I can't believe that I am writing this as I have done my share of complaining. . . And as flawed as the system is, the healthcare provided by TRICARE and at MTFs is remarkable.
Ask yourself these questions:
How much is your monthly premium for TRICARE as an active duty service member or dependent? (Before marrying my DH, my premium was about $150/month for just me.)
If you've had a baby, how much did you have to pay for all maternity related care? (I have friends who are making months payments to pay-off what they owe for maternity care.)
Do you know any military families who have had to declare bankruptcy because of medical care costs? (I don't, but I know people who have had huge hospital bills and paid nothing.)
If you get your scripts filled at the pharmacy at an MTF, *how much* do you pay? (Seven years ago, before I married my DH, I was paying $100/month in company's for my maintenance medication--BCP, an antidepressant and an ADHD medication.)
What, you have a pre-existing condition? TRICARE says no problem. Other insurances? Ha-ha-ha-ha!
If your child requires early intervention, how much of the cost do you pay? (My son received speech therapy, weekly, in our home. We did not pay a penny. Others are not so fortunate.)
Sure, TRICARE and military healthcare can be a PITA, but the coverage is expansive. They require correct coding for things to be covered. Maybe it's a pain to deal with for a billing department (and the repayment rate is laughably low), but it's the same as Medicare and Medicaid.
For those of you who think TRICARE is crap, I'd be curious to hear how you'd like to be paying hundreds of dollars a month for coverage that is not any better.
Re: In defense of TRICARE and military healthcare
I agree that it's very nice having full coverage, free healthcare. That being said, we are going to opt into DH's civilian health care plan next open enrollment because we have been very dissatisfied with both my care and his care. It will cost about $300/month. Due to poor care for him, he may end up being permanently disabled. He works an office job so it's not the end of the world, but frankly it's just inexcusable. Since this will very likely require additional surgeries we want to be able to get him better care in the future. I've had a very difficult time receiving adequate care at our OB clinic, and am nervous about continuing to go there due to certain problems they don't seem to be taking seriously. I'm just hoping nothing goes too seriously wrong with the baby before I leave here. Unfortunately, several of my coworkers have not been so lucky with their pregnancies and the poor care here. So I get your point, but adequate health care can be worth the extra cost.
This is the worst place I have been in the military for health care, and I've been in 8 different locations. I still have an untreated injury from my last deployment and it's been well over a year since I got back. The lack of treatment is directly related to inability to see a provider or get a referral. Most other places I've been stationed have actually been pretty good. Maybe if I was at a better location with better facilities and access to providers my opinion would be different.
If you are unhappy with the care you are receiving you need to file a formal complaint with a patient advocate and with Tricare. Tricare takes those claims very seriously and will refer people out so they receive proper care.
CJ 05/29/2013
Married 11/27/09 and TTC right away
Dx: Complete septate uterus with cervical duplication, endometrial polyps, PCOS, endometriosis, hypo thyroid, luteal phase defect
4 uterus surgeries to correct my complete septum and to remove polyps and 2 years of seeing the RE, medicated cycles and IUIs
Baby 1 and 2: BFP 3/3/11 with 2 babies EDD 11/1/11, M/C 4/6/11
Baby #3: 8/11 pregnant EDD 4/27/11 and m/c:(
Baby #4: 10/12/11 BFP! EDD 6/16/12m/c 10/26/11
Baby #5: 3/13/12 BFP! EDD 11/25/12 ANOTHER m/c
Baby #6: 2/14/13- BFP! EDD 10/24/13, CP 2/19/13
Baby #7: 3/15/13- BFP! EDD 11/27/13, another CP
Baby #8. BFP 5/19/13 EDD 1/22/14. 8 was not our lucky number
4th septum resection on 5/31/13.
Baby #9: 6/29/13 BFP. C section scheduled for March 5th!
My miracle baby was born March 5 at 9:33am. He was 8 lbs 12.5 oz and 21.25 inches long!
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you know you can file complaints and ask to be assigned a new doctor?
I wholeheartedly appreciate the financial aspect of Tricare. But I still think they are a huge mess overall. I've never dealt with an insurance company who gives out such inaccurate or contradicting information.ifyou call three times, it is not unusual to get three different answers.
I LOVE Standard. Sure there is added costs,but it is so much nicer than Prime. There is no referral process, which eliminates the time factor that those referrals often take. I think many of their employees just aren't as educated on the benefits as they should be.
As far as military healthcare goes, my situation is probably not typical overall, but the care I have received in the past was 100% substandard. If a civilian doctor had provided the same level of care as I have received in the past, he or she would have been suid for malpractice or stripped of their license.
I'll give you one example out of many. I hurt my neck many years ago. I went to my PCM at a MTF. If was told I was too young and there was nothing seriously wrong. Over the course of two years, I saw my PCM 3 more times for the same issue. I finally convinced them to run an MRI, which the referral took a month to process. When it finally went through,it showed multiple herniated discs in my neck. I had a cervical fusion at 24. My surgeon and physical Therapist were both confident that had my doctor taken my issue seriously, I could have done PT and held off the surgery for a good decade at least. Instead,I had a surgery at 24 that most people don't have until they are in their 40s to 50s. I live with pain daily. I complained multiple times to the advocate. I wrote letter after letter, and complaint after complaint. You know what happened? My DH's command was called and my dh was told that I better drop it or his career was at stake. I wasn't educated well enough on Prime vs Standard because when I talked to Tricare,I was advised that the OOP cost would be enormous that most young couples just couldn't afford.
This is just one of many horrendous experiences I've had with military healthcare. I won't even go into my pregnancy experiences with them, which would just make you sick. I've heard of people who received amazing care. But me? I'll never see a military doctor again. The sad part is that I only go to doctors now if I'm desperate. The anxiety it causes me is not worth it. That fear is 100% directly related to my experience with MTF. I don't trust healthcare providers in general now, and that is a shame.
There actually are a lot of repercussions for doctors in the military who do things wrong or who arent providing medically sound care. I work in military healthcare as an administrator and half my time is spent dealing this this stuff. They do take the complaints very seriously and doctors are repremended, have their pay taken away and kicked out of the military
Married 11/27/09 and TTC right away
Dx: Complete septate uterus with cervical duplication, endometrial polyps, PCOS, endometriosis, hypo thyroid, luteal phase defect
4 uterus surgeries to correct my complete septum and to remove polyps and 2 years of seeing the RE, medicated cycles and IUIs
Baby 1 and 2: BFP 3/3/11 with 2 babies EDD 11/1/11, M/C 4/6/11
Baby #3: 8/11 pregnant EDD 4/27/11 and m/c:(
Baby #4: 10/12/11 BFP! EDD 6/16/12m/c 10/26/11
Baby #5: 3/13/12 BFP! EDD 11/25/12 ANOTHER m/c
Baby #6: 2/14/13- BFP! EDD 10/24/13, CP 2/19/13
Baby #7: 3/15/13- BFP! EDD 11/27/13, another CP
Baby #8. BFP 5/19/13 EDD 1/22/14. 8 was not our lucky number
4th septum resection on 5/31/13.
Baby #9: 6/29/13 BFP. C section scheduled for March 5th!
My miracle baby was born March 5 at 9:33am. He was 8 lbs 12.5 oz and 21.25 inches long!
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ETA: sorry for the missing punctuation and no paragraphs and run on sentences. I posted from my phone.
Why not just switch him to Tricare Standard? Cheaper than $3,600 a year in premiums (the cat cap is $1000) and you can pick all of your doctors just like a PPO.
The only time I took my own civilian insurance plan over Tricare was when we were doing infertility treatments. My civi insurance in Maryland covered my IVF cycle. Aside from niche items like that, Tricare Standard is AMAZING coverage and dirt cheap.
Married 6/28/03
Kate ~ 7/3/09 *** Connor ~ 11/11/10
4 miscarriages: 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014
*~*~*~*~*
No more TTC for us. We are done, and at peace, as a family of 4.
"Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” — Charles Dickens
My MTF doesn't do OB so I was sent downtown. Countless tests, at least 20 highres ultrasounds, over 50 prenatal appointments, an induction, care for two late preterm babies, and I never even saw a bill. I don't know of any insurance that would cover all of that.
Also, a bad doctor isn't TriCare's problem, it's your MTF's. I've had my problems with TriCare, but I've had several other companies for insurance and TriCare far surpasses them.
I must have missed where the op originally said she was active duty. I still think tricare is great but in defense of the OP the care you receive as active duty can be a MUCH different experience than what you receive as a spouse, and complaining isnt always an option without some backlash.
I must have missed where the op originally said she was active duty. I still think tricare is great but in defense of the OP the care you receive as active duty can be a MUCH different experience than what you receive as a spouse, and complaining isnt always an option without some backlash.
Yes! I do not understand any of the whining about Tricare. Especially Standard. I have the exact same doctors and coverage with Standard that I did when I worked for state government and had their insurance. The difference is that I basically pay pennies out of pocket now.
And you know, so what if prescriptions at pharmacies like Target have gone up some. I don't know what people who don't have to pay $600/month for private insurance are complaining about.
Completely agree!
I too had private health insurance before I married DH & it was not cheap...not to mention co-pays, deductibles, etc.
With DD2, we discovered at birth she has hearing loss & will require hearing aids for the rest of her life. (and of course, everything that goes with that - ear molds every few months as she grows, speech therapy, etc) It's required tons of testing to determine what she hears, not to mention kidney scans & genetics testing. We've paid NOTHING.
Hearing aids alone are of $4,000! Tricare took one look at her charts & approved EVERYTHING. Our MTF doctor has been fantastic - our approvals all took less than a week. It's been amazing. I will forever be thankful for the wonderful care we're getting her.
I find it extremely irritating when people blame military healthcare for what ever level of care they believe is substandard as compared to civilian care. You, as a member of the medical field should know that there are bad doctors everywhere. There are plenty of well educated, amazing providers in the military.
I complained to every possible person on that particular base that I could. I was never rude. On the recommendation of my DH's Staff NCO at the time, I even wrote my congressmen. Between the complaints to the advocate and the commander and the letters to my congressmen, my dh was told it was in his best interest that I drop it. I received a letter from one of the congressmen who wanted to do a formal inquiry, and a call from another. I dropped it though because I did t want to negatively impact my DH's career, and hat is exactly where it was headed.
I've received care at 3 different duty stations. I've only had one decent doctor in the 3. In my experience, they are condescending and do not provide the level of care a medical professional should give. I'm not a picky person, buti do expect professional, adequate care. I have written formal complaints to two of the MTFs where myself or DS has been treated. Nothing happens.
Like I stated before, the severity of my complaints are atypical, but it does happen, and 99% of the time, it doesn't matter to the powers that be. There is no accountability, IMO, and that makes me sad.
things may have happened but they might not have told you. MTFs really dont go advertising that they stripped a CAPT of pay and put him on probation..
Married 11/27/09 and TTC right away
Dx: Complete septate uterus with cervical duplication, endometrial polyps, PCOS, endometriosis, hypo thyroid, luteal phase defect
4 uterus surgeries to correct my complete septum and to remove polyps and 2 years of seeing the RE, medicated cycles and IUIs
Baby 1 and 2: BFP 3/3/11 with 2 babies EDD 11/1/11, M/C 4/6/11
Baby #3: 8/11 pregnant EDD 4/27/11 and m/c:(
Baby #4: 10/12/11 BFP! EDD 6/16/12m/c 10/26/11
Baby #5: 3/13/12 BFP! EDD 11/25/12 ANOTHER m/c
Baby #6: 2/14/13- BFP! EDD 10/24/13, CP 2/19/13
Baby #7: 3/15/13- BFP! EDD 11/27/13, another CP
Baby #8. BFP 5/19/13 EDD 1/22/14. 8 was not our lucky number
4th septum resection on 5/31/13.
Baby #9: 6/29/13 BFP. C section scheduled for March 5th!
My miracle baby was born March 5 at 9:33am. He was 8 lbs 12.5 oz and 21.25 inches long!
">
Overall my care at MTFs has been ok. I would chalk it up to about the same as civilian care (I'm on Prime). I've had 2 children and both pregnancies went ok for the most part. In the back of my head, I do wonder if L&D where I had my 2nd child may have F'd up somehow a week before he was born (I won't go into it here).
In regards to OOP care and general care for my kids I would say it has been fine. DS1 is typical and hasn't been seriously sick so care is fine for him. DS2 is SN and I can without a doubt say that his care and the large amount of constant referrals he requires has been awesome. His pediatrician has never failed or delayed in getting me a referral and those referrals may take a couple of weeks. Where I am at now, we have a clinical nurse case manager that I can call for pretty much anything. That service has been a God-send. I am actually quite nervous to ever go off of TriCare (should DH get out of the military) because DS2 would have a pre-existing condition and I am afraid future services through a different insurance company would be refused (although they can't with ObamaCare is my understanding). I have only had issues with one pedi at a MTF and I think he may have retired (this was at the previous base we were stationed).
In regards to EI, since both of boys qualified I never paid for anything; however, where DS2 had his EI therapy they did go through TriCare (this wasn't done at the previous base I was at).
Medical care in general can be a PITA. It doesn't matter if you see civilian or MTF. Likewise you can have crappy doctors and great doctors at a MTF and at a civilian place. No one is perfect but you must advocate for yourself and your children. There can be pros and cons but you have that with most anything in life.
Also I'm confused why many posters keep bringing up standard. She is active duty its not an option. The care received by many active duty really is horrible sometimes and complaining really isn't always an option without consequences to the MMs career. If only it were as simple as just complaining.
Tricare coverage is great but the op has legit complaint about level of care believe it or not it does happen regardless of the steps you take to correct it....
Married 11/27/09 and TTC right away
Dx: Complete septate uterus with cervical duplication, endometrial polyps, PCOS, endometriosis, hypo thyroid, luteal phase defect
4 uterus surgeries to correct my complete septum and to remove polyps and 2 years of seeing the RE, medicated cycles and IUIs
Baby 1 and 2: BFP 3/3/11 with 2 babies EDD 11/1/11, M/C 4/6/11
Baby #3: 8/11 pregnant EDD 4/27/11 and m/c:(
Baby #4: 10/12/11 BFP! EDD 6/16/12m/c 10/26/11
Baby #5: 3/13/12 BFP! EDD 11/25/12 ANOTHER m/c
Baby #6: 2/14/13- BFP! EDD 10/24/13, CP 2/19/13
Baby #7: 3/15/13- BFP! EDD 11/27/13, another CP
Baby #8. BFP 5/19/13 EDD 1/22/14. 8 was not our lucky number
4th septum resection on 5/31/13.
Baby #9: 6/29/13 BFP. C section scheduled for March 5th!
My miracle baby was born March 5 at 9:33am. He was 8 lbs 12.5 oz and 21.25 inches long!
">
Ditto all of this. I am an Active Duty healthcare administrator in the Navy. I can assure you there are many repercussions for doctors in the military who do things incorrectly. You have clearly not spoken with your patient advocate.
And to the OP, cheers to you! I am sick and tired of reading complaints from dependents on here complaining about the amazing health insurance we are provided.
Oh and the majority of the providers in the military are top notch. I'm sorry some of you have had issues with your PCM's, etc. In the 10 years I've been an AD officer in the military, most of the providers I've worked with have been fantastic. Patient satisfaction has been phenomenal. Yes, we track satisfaction as well as complaints in military medicine.
The problem is actually getting the complaint far enough for there to be repercussions. I cant speak for other branches/jobs, but in marine infantry my husband wasn't even allowed to see a real doctor, just a corpsman, unless the corpsman deemed a regular doc necessary which was....never....motrin was the fix for everything. There is no complaining or going above the docs head without it negatively effecting your career. It sounds like the poster complaining ran into similar problems.
Normally I won't go as far to get this mad but, what is your husband, an E2? An infantry Marine with any seniority has enough respect for his Corpsman than to let his wife go around running her mouth like you are. Who do you think would be saving your husband's life in the field if the worst should happen? Not the battalion surgeon, a Doc would. There are Corpsmen out there that literally have as much training as a physician's assistant. They triage and screen Marines coming in to sick call then determine if their issue is worth seeing a doctor. Why? Because 9 times out of 10 it's just someone trying to get out of a hump. Really, when it comes to a pulled muscle, sprained ankle, etc. motrin is a go to drug that even a DOCTOR would recommend. My husband, a Corpsman, is one of the most brilliant medical minds I know and that's coming from me as a fellow medical provider. He's stitched people up, done amputations, and run out in fire to save Marines. It makes me sick to think there are people like you that think it's okay to talk crap on Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen.
Whoa chill! I wasn't trying to down corpsman. In fact a corpsman did save my husbands life and legs in Afghanistan. I said nothing about their abilities to stitch up dying men on the battle field They are fantastic in the field and my husband along with many of our friends wouldn't be here today without them. But they aren't always so great at diagnosing more mundane stuff at home. And yes they are supposed to assess if a marine needs to go to the MTF or not. Some are better than others and they don't always refer the marine on like they are supposed to. There are things that come up that the company corpsman cant always treat. My only point was that if they say no or don't provide proper treatment that marine is generally not going to go above his head and try to cause problems. Other posters are making it seem like all you have to do is complain and thats not always how it works with active duty.
on another note, dont make stupid assumptions about people you don't know anything about. Not that rank matters a whole lot to me (clearly it does to you), but no my husband was not an E2 he was retired at an e-4 because he got his legs shot to hell in afghanistan I know damn well what can and does happen over there.
Oh good grief I used the wrong terminology. My my point was still valid. I said MTF, because when he was active if my husband would have been seen by someone other than his corpsman in the barracks he would have been sent to the Naval hospital, the same one I was seen at as a spouse. The Naval hospital is also known as the MTF when dealing with tri-care. It is relevant because one poster was getting reemed for complaining about her experience, most of the posters are just telling her to switch to standard or put in a complaint, which isnt always an option when she was talking about active duty care. They are giving their experiences as spouses which is often much different.
Im glad your husband is some medical genius stop taking my post as a personal attack. What I said was true and valid, some are better than others, and while they are invaluable on the battle field at keeping Marines in working condition, and keeping them from bleeding out when serious injuries do occur, that doesn't mean they are all good at diagnosing illness back home. Again since you clearly keep missing it, my point was that if the corpsman decides to not refer a marine on, or doesn't provide adequate care for an illness there isn't always something that marine can do. I was speaking for infantry because thats all I have experience with, but Im sure similar things happen in other branches/jobs. I don't know what that posters branch/job was but she was trying to explain that complaining was doing more harm than good and I was trying to give an example that yes sometimes that really is the case. In the military sometimes you just don't complain, its part of being in.
Furthermore for the last time, Im not talking "crap" about corpsman. Your just choosing to take this as a personal attack because you misunderstood my first post and got your panties in a wad. If you even read my last post, I said they are invaluable to marines lives on deployments, and that my husband along with many of our friends wouldn't be here without theirs. I was talking about the more mundane stuff back home, like it or not corpsman are no different than any other job where some are really good and some are not. Im sure they can all keep a marine alive and from bleeding out (or they wouldn't have made it that far) but that doesn't mean they all can adequately diagnose and treat illnesses and complications.
Okay I see the disconnect here. We are on two different pages and referring to two completely different settings. Im not talking about what your referring to, im not talking about corpsmen as a whole. Any doctor any marine sees is a navy corpsmen so I suppose I should have specificed (but since I was referring to infantry I thought it was kind of clear) Im talking about the brand new corpsmen straight out of school that gets sent to to an infantry unit. After his initial training/school he then operates as an infantry marine. He lives in those barracks with those guys he does all the same training they do. At that stage in his career his main training is to keep those marines alive on the battlefield. He stays and trains with them while at home to, hes not working in a hospital under the direction of a doctor or higher ranking more experienced corpsman. He learns how to keep them alive and then everything else he does is the same thing a marine infantrymen does. There is no doctor looking over his shoulder signing off on charts. A marine simply walks down the hall to the docs room and says "hey doc Ive got such and such" At which point if its something that cant be treated with stitches or motrin the corpsman would refer them on to the setting in which you are referring. However they often don't get referred on.
Again Im not downing them. corpsmen that go to infantry have to know two jobs, they have to be as good as any infantrymen AND be medical personnel. Many go on after their infantry stint to be all kinds and types of doctors within the military . But while in an infantry bat their main specialty is keeping marines alive, not diagnosing sicknesses. That doesn't mean hes a bad guy or a bad corpsmen but the fact of the matter is, that sometimes means guys go without proper medical treatment. Back to my original point there are times in the military that active duty DO receive sub par care and you don't complain about to the chain of command. Its more the system that sucks but people are trying to act like it never happens and if it does its your own fault for whatever reason
Edit: no im not a doctor but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know if your not getting care. Pretty sure when my husband was puking blood for a month motrin wasn't the proper treatment. There is no second opinion. If the barracks corpsman doesn't deem your infliction worth going over to medical you don't go. no one looking over his shoulder to make sure hes diagnosing correctly.
I've been in the Navy for 11yrs and have been stationed overseas, on a ship and here state side, each duty station had its positive points and it's negative ones. In Belgium I had my wisdom teeth taken out and I ended up having a lump form on my jaw, I went in twice and was told it was the "pink of healing" and not to worry. The third time I went in and told them I wanted to be refered out in town, that nothing was being done and I was constantly in pain, they asked if I was willing to see a different doctor and if I wasn't satisfied I would be refered out. The next doctor said I had a blood hematoma and fixed it. You just have to push to get the care you deserve, the same goes for when I needed PT, I wasn't getting the care I needed at the MTF so I complained and demanded better care, I was sent out to a civilian PT clinic and was healed in record time.
I also just completed IVF, the Navy paid for me to see a fertility specialist, a salpingogram procedure (that had some serious complications and resulted in 2 more exploratory surgeries and the eventual removal of my tubes), my husband was tested quite a few times and they paid for all the medications, in the end we paid just around $8000 for a $20,000 dollar procedure and that doesn't include about $13,000 from all the pre operations and procedures.
So yes, Tricare if frustrating at times and slow, overall it is a great program and as long as you demand the care you deserve you'll be okay. If you're not make an IG complaint or go to ICE and make a complaint. There are procedures in place for issues like you're going through.
OMG, get over yourself and your Corpsman husband, as stated previously, there are some good HM's and there are some that are complete crap. I'm active duty and when I had to go to physical therapy the HM's were only interested in playing games on their phones or surfing the internet, they didn't pay attention to me or the other patients going through PT, which is why I complained and was refered out in town. When my husband was active duty on a ship he went to medical because he was extremely sick, the HM told him to drink fluids and take some motrin, on his way out of medical one of the Doctors stopped him and asked him if he'd been seen and what was wrong, when he found out the corpsman told him that nothing was wrong enough the Doctor counseled the HM because my husband ended up having a serve case of pneumonia. So not every HM is the best thing since sliced bread.
Every rate in the Navy has it's good apples and its bad ones, not everyone of them is going to be as "great" as your husband!
I dont think she is reading anymore I think she finally realized I knew what I was talking about and that she was referring to something totally different making all her points moot