Thought for those using Tricare Prime vs. Standard

emoxymoose

I know a few of us on here have Tricare, but no one has really gotten into delivering at a military hospital vs. delivering at a civilian one and paying the co-pays. I've been following the problems of the healthcare here since 2012 but lately it seems that a spotlight has been shone - especially with the firing of the Ft. Bragg hospital commander. I commissioned with a few Army nurses and we talk about it often but then this article came to my attention:

 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/us/in-military-care-a-pattern-of-errors-but-not-scrutiny.html?_r=1

I've been debating switching to standard my entire pregnancy and now I have the worst anxiety, I guess I just wanted to get some comments for those that have been there. Definitely not trying to scare anyone.

emoxymoose

Well, I wouldn't say you were really on a soapbox but I've actually already delivered at the hospital I'm going to now. I had a major problem with one of the NPs, but luckily she retired. It's just left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm seriously paranoid. The issues I have really have to do with the military policies in general, not necessarily trashing ALL docs and nurses in the facilities.

I can't get stats on individual docs like you can in the civ sector, only on the hospital as a whole, unless I'm looking in the wrong place ( I feel like I've looked and asked everyone)... the inability to choose it getting to me.

But hey... you're on the inside (kinda), maybe you could point me in the right direction?

mrsrich3

I'm seeing a civilian doctor. I had to pay for my first appointment, but I've been 4 times since then and haven't been charged a dime. I didn't have a long list of reasons for choosing civilian over military, but I'm really happy with my decision.

Allyvaughan86

I started with Military and made the decision to switch to civilian just last week. I have my first appointment with them at 24 weeks after my already scheduled a/s... I did so for a few reasons. My current military doctor always acts like I'm wasting her time whenever I call with a question (3 times this whole pregnancy btw) once when I first found out I was pregnant and was visiting my family when we found out my dad had shingles, another time for a kidney stone was was causing severe pain, and just last week when I had 2 days of light spotting. I am pgal so I'm already nervous, but to call with legitimate concerns and barely be acknowledged worries me a little. I'm also moving an hour away from the military hospital at the end of August. Potentially driving an hour in labor scares me. I also work as a nurse at a civilian hospital less than 5 minutes from where I'll be moving. The women's center there has an excellent reputation and I know many of the doctors and nurses! They even checked me out no problem last week when I was spotting and found a healthy heartbeat which definitely eased my mind! I think I made the right decision

kfo22

I hadn't heard anything too horrible about the OB doctors on post here, but I looked into the hospital, hoping for water birth options. They don't have any tubs, and their C section rate is still 1 in 5. I couldn't find a CNM close to us, so we're just paying completely out of pocket for a CPM. I'm still happy with that, though.