There's always a catch...

So I got my Tricare card today. I have no idea why it took so long to get to me; the effective date on the card started almost three weeks ago. At any rate, I called up the Tricare hotline to see what I needed to do to get prenatal care set up. The good news is the guy on the phone was the most helpful and informative Tricare employee I've ever talked to. The bad news is I still have to jump through some hoops before I can see an OB/GYN, and even worse, I may not get to go to the one close to home. Unfortunately, my primary doctor has to submit a referral to the Saratoga Springs military treatment facility (which by the way, I was not assigned to in the first place, so I don't know why it has to go to them) and they have to deny me for treatment before I can be referred to the doctor I want to go to. Now, I don't think I'll have a problem being denied because I don't believe Saratoga has an prenatal specialist on staff, but there's not a doubt in my mind that this process will still take FOREVER. If I'm assigned to Saratoga for prenatal care, I've decided I am going to disenroll from Tricare Prime and go with Tricare Standard. That way, I can choose my own doctor, and I'll just foot the bill for the first visit or two until I get approved for Tricare Standard. The only thing that sucks about that is I was told that there was a possiblility that I could lose my insurance for a year after my delivery if I make the switch. If I had known that Active Duty Dependents still recieved 100% coverage on Standard, I would have enrolled in that to begin with, but unfortunately, not only was I not informed of this, I was also not even given the option to enroll in Standard. When I got married to Niel it was Tricare Prime or none at all. All I know is I'm tired of this, and Niel's getting tired of it too, because when I was talking about possibly of enrolling in Tricare Standard, he told me, " You don't need to wait another month, and you know that's how long it will take." Sigh. I know part of this is my fault because I waited until the last minute to transfer my service to the North region, but I seriously didn't think it would be this hard to get the ball in motion. I do know this, I will not enroll my child in Tricare Prime. They will have Standard and I will pick a doctor close to me that knows what they're doing. Also when Niel gets out of the Navy, I will be looking for some better coverage that WON'T be provided by Healthnet Federal Services/Humana Military/Tricare or any of its other affiliates.

Awwwman..sorry you're having to go through all this.

I'd be like you and foot the first visit or two. Once you have your first visit to get checked, it'll be a month before you'll have to go back. You can use that time to get transferred.

Keep us updated!

Insurance companies are legalized extortionist. Federal Insurance was designed in hell and run by it's minions! You have my sympathies.

Sorry to hear they have you jumping through hoops Lea. I'm looking at switching all of us over to Tricare Standard as well. I LOATHE the woman that's the girls pediatrician. She needs to be taken out and shot. And I can't switch them because they're so backed up and we HAVE to see doctors on Ft.Drum b/c we are within the mile radius of their evil plans.

I wish you luck though. Mayhaps switching over won't be as difficult. I have fingers crossed for you

Yeah, I finally got my referral in. My doctor (who happens to be civilian) promised me that they would get their part of the referral done as quickly as possible. That would make me feel better if they played a bigger part than just submitting an application. Anywho, I just think it's so funny that some people are pushing for standardized health care from the government. It might be more expensive to deal with your own health care, but at least you won't die from a terminal illness while waiting for a referral to see a specialist.

Well, finally! My referral approval letter came in the mail today, and I got the doctor I asked for. I have my first appointment at 2:15 on Friday. Woohoo!

WOOOHHOOOO!! Congrats..don't forget to tell us all about it!!

YAY!!!!!!! Tricare only takes as long as it takes for you to start thinking of sending them nasty letters lol

Good luck! And congrats on getting the doctor you wanted I think that's the most rare thing lol

LeaShi wrote:

Anywho, I just think it's so funny that some people are pushing for standardized health care from the government. It might be more expensive to deal with your own health care, but at least you won't die from a terminal illness while waiting for a referral to see a specialist.

Have to pick...
Independent health insurance (that wouldn't be just a waste of money), for just me, myself and I, is something like $1700/mo. AND, even if I could even vaguely afford such extortion, they'd still be likely to cherry pick, meaning, I'd be rejected.
That doesn't count my husband who's 13 years my senior. He may have retired, but it's still 3 years before he's eligible for medicare.

Any health care is better than none.

Need surgery with out health insurance? Better have a small fortune to pay up front.
Go the emergency room route? Be prepared to deal with price gouging, and being billed for procedures you never had.

Unless things change drastically, there's a lot more peeps gonna die of a terminal illness simply 'cause they had no option to see a doctor when things could have been simple to cure.
And yet there are folks that have no clue why this happens.
Walk a mile in my shoes.
And I'm relatively healthy.

Funny thing... you hear second and third hand about the horrors of health care in other countries.
But the net is a wonderful thing.
Allows a person to ask questions of folks and get the straight poop from folks who are there.
When you hear folks complain from other countries, you find out that thier problems are no different than health care problems here in this country.
You also hear that horror stories are greatly exaggerated... especially from the standpoint of those of us who are uninsured.

Pick over... glad things were solved in a timely fashion.