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Does anyone have Tricare Reserve Select?
My DH is currently on this and I am on insurance through my company but we are thinking about switching the entire family to Tricare Reserve Select since it makes financial sense once the LO arrives. When I do the provider search only the army base that is 45 minutes away comes up. Does anyone know if you can go to other doctors and it will still be covered? DH broke his foot this year and went to doctors off base and it was covered but I don't understand why no other doctors come up when I search on the Tricare site.
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Re: Does anyone have Tricare Reserve Select?
I was on TRS for a while before DH went back AD. We were able to choose our own providers. From what I was told at a Tricare brief yesterday for work, TRS can be seen on post as space available. You are going to want a better option than that I am sure. Healthnet Federal Services was where all my stuff came through once I was enrolled.
From their website:
"Even if there are no TRICARE network providers in your area, there are TRICARE-authorized non-network providers who can see you. The best way to locate a non-network provider is to contact the provider directly to see if he or she accepts TRICARE patients."
https://www.hnfs.com/content/hnfs/home/tn/bene/plans/guard_and_reserve/getting_care_trrtrs.html
We have TRS and we can see any provider who takes Tricare prime or standard. I've had terrible experiences being seen on MTFs so we go only to civilian docs, and every time me or the kids go to a new doc I have to explain, "It's like Tricare Standard" and tell them my copay is 15% for in-network providers, but a lot more preventive and basic care is covered 100% (well-baby visits, for example).
I love the coverage and the price is right-- DH is getting out of the Guard in 2013 and I'm already having conniptions over finding coverage that is even comparable, much less as affordable. My daughter's prenatal care and birth cost me a whopping $34- OB and hospital stay combined.
Ditto all this.
AND if your doctor doesn't take Tricare you can self-pay and be reimbursed but I don't really recommend that unless you LOVE your doc because its a PITA ;-)
Bejebus - your prenatal care & Labor/Delivery only cost $34 TOTAL with Reserve Select?! I was expecting to pay a LOT more than that. Are the visits completely covered? What about the deductible & cap?
(I'm still a bit of a Tricare newb, we just switched at the beginning of this year when DH re-enlisted in the reserves so this is my first pregnancy on it)
Yeah. My OB had me pay a fee of about $250 for all prenatal visits and delivery, but that got refunded by Tricare (hence the confusion between standard and TRS- that fee is for Standard patients, but maternity is a 100% covered benefit under TRS). The hospital billed Tricare $24,000, but between contract deductions (they bill an outlandish amount, the Tricare "allowed amount" is much less) and Tricare's payments, my cost was $34. I was expecting to pay way more as well, at least meet the $1k OOP max, but we didn't hit that until August.
Side note- good friends of ours are in the same reserve unit as my DH and have TRS, had a baby 3 weeks after our DD, and she got very ill and spent 41 days in the Pediatric ICU. They have had zero problems with TRS covering everything from the LifeFlight to her specialist referrals. She's doing much better now, but just wanted to let you know that the coverage really is that awesome.
Thank you for the info! That is AWESOME. We are actually on Prime right now until November 21st or so (DH has been full time reserves since March - 4 months in tech school and another 4-5 months full time on base locally) so I have to start off seeing someone on base then go elsewhere I guess? I checked on the Tricare page and there's only one group practice with OBs in the entire city listed as in network so I'm hoping to get in there. I'm really bummed that I can't stick with the OB I had for my first two pregnancies. They don't bill Tricare nor are they in network so I'd have to self pay and I have a feeling that would just be insane with a pregnancy and all the visits and such. But the savings are SO worth it, especially since I should still be able to deliver at the same hospital I had my first two kids at.
I'm going on base on Monday to do the initial pregnancy test and hopefully get some more info and an appointment scheduled though! I have no idea how far along I really am so it'll be nice to finally get some dates.
Unfortunately where I live there is only one OB practice off base that I've found that accepts Tricare
At least it is something! I was shocked at how limited it was because I've heard from people in other places they had no problem finding civilian providers.