TRICARE

“In 1998 my son was born in Okinawa Japan. He was born with a congenital heart defect. Basically, his lungs weren’t connected to his heart. We were medically evacuated off the island and transferred to San Diego when he was about 18 hours old. (Nothing to do with Tricare, but they unloaded a cargo plane in order for us to fly at a moments notice. There were my husband, myself, my son, a flight nurse and doctor, the crew a few passengers) Once in San Diego, they determined his defect and gave us the scenarios. At 5 days old he had open heart surgery. He had it again at 5 months and the last one at 18mos. The first time he was in the hospital for 3 weeks, the other 2 for about a week. I think we paid less than $10 a day that he was admitted. When the bill statements came in it showed how much it all cost. When all was said and done it was close to $500K. That was just for 18 mos of his life. I would say we may have paid $500 out of pocket during this time. The only time we paid for medications were if we got them at an off base pharmacy and then we paid a small co-pay of $3. He has had numerous follow up procedures to make sure all was well. As well as seeing a cardiologist every six months (now once a year). He is also on Coumadin (blood thinner), which requires us to use a clinic off base to check his levels. This is all covered by Tricare. I do not pay a co-pay to see a doctor

……The births of my kids (2) were completely covered. Again I only paid for being in the hospital. I would say that my son has had at least a million dollars worth of medical care over the last ten years. I am not sure where we would be financially if not for Tricare. There are definitely drawbacks to having Tricare but I think they pale in comparison to some of the HMO’s of today. When my husband retires next year, we will continue to use Tricare Prime. Even though it will cost our family a whole $465 (or something close to that) a YEAR for full coverage. That is not something I can complain about.”

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“I actually had to use TriCare today. I was having chest pain, the base doesn’t have an ER so I was able to go to the ER out in town. Tricare has been the best thing the military has offered us. We don’t pay for prescriptions. I am able to get an appointment in a timely manner. I haven’t had any problems with them not covering services. My dad is a retired marine and has, I believe it’s called Tricare For Life. It is the best benefit of his retirement. The retirement check isn’t huge but the medical insurance is the BEST out there!”

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“I have had excellent experiences with Tricare, with the exception of one. When my husband deployed to Iraq (we’re at Ft Hood, btw), me and my 3 month old daughter moved back to Utah to live with my mom. I found out that because I moved out of the area my husband deployed from, i was no longer eligible for Tricare Prime. This totally sucked, because that meant I had to pay deductibles and all that crap. What really got me was that there was a National Guard unit from my home town in utah that was deployed, and all their families were eligible for Tricare Prime…we went to the same doctors, but I had to pay. I don’t understand why Tricare would somewhat punish you for moving back home while your spouse is deployed. i was a brand new mother living in a town that I knew nothing about, of course I was going to go back to Utah! That’s been my biggest gripe…I wish they would change that.”

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“We’ve had mostly good experiences with Tricare. Last year my 4 year old went to the ER twice (once for stitches and once for staples) and we were seen right away. Tricare covered everything on that with minimal hassle….It took several months for Tricare to finally pay the bill even though we did everything by the book i.e. we got the referral, made the appointment, notified Tricare of the appointment etc…..I had six sessions of physical therapy last year and once again Tricare covered everything. I was seen promptly and they paid the bill on time. There was minimal hassle involved in dealing with them…..

I’ve worked with a doctor here for 2 years now to figure out why I get so many headaches. I’ve had MRIs, CAT scans, EKG, blood tests to see if I had cancer or leukemia among other things, saw quite a few other specialists, tried many different forms of medication as well. Going to any of my appointments has been fairly hassle free. I get my approval letter in the mail and make the appointment. Typically Tricare pays the bill without me having to call and find out why they didn’t pay the bill…..Thus far the only frustrating experience with Tricare stems from an ongoing health issue. They currently do not cover braces past a certain ageregardless of medical need for braces. I have TMJ and the only way to fix it involves seeing an orthodontist…
In most other areas, Tricare has been good to us. Sometimes it takes some phone calls to make them pay the bills, but that’s true of any insurance company.”

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“My husband has been in the military 33 yrs. If I could hold the money in my hands that Tricare had payed out on me in the last few years I could probably have sent all three of my children to law school and and my grand children. I have only one issue with doctors who are on the provider list or who will not sign up. I have experienced this several times. My primary care doctor will send me, for instance, to a neuro-specialist, he begins to care for me , I like the results of how he cared for me and the next year he drops off the list. Doctors want more than what Tricare will allow to pay them. Its really not Tricare’s fault. Im sure others have experienced this too. Doctors, will you please take care your military families that give you the freedom to be a doctor?”