If the health care bill is passed will military have to start paying premiums?

November 16, 2009 by admin · 5 Comments
Filed under: Military 
health care
Brianna’s Mommy asked:

I’m a bit confused about the health care plan. What does it mean for military members and their families? The only thing we see taken out of our paychecks is taxes, social security and 33 dollars for medicare? Will that stay the same?
Yes but as a spouse my daughter and I can see off-post providers at no cost.

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5 Responses to “If the health care bill is passed will military have to start paying premiums?”
  1. tai D says:
    November 17, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    *facepalm*
    Military has this thing called tricare. They try to care. Pretty much we’re taken care of doctors who are also officers in our branch of the military (well, the marines get taken care of by the navy, but mrh.) tai D

  2. Brandon says:
    November 20, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Tricare will stay a separate entity just like an active service member does. You have nothing to be concerned about. The day I quit getting health care, I quit. Brandon

  3. USMCgrlandMommy says:
    November 21, 2009 at 11:55 am

    Do some research okay. It’s called the public option bill that is trying to get passed. It’s for people like my family who are without health care and cannot afford or get private health insurance. It has nothing to do with tri-care.

    It will only effect and benefit people like my family.

    (I love the palm face slap above it cracked me up) USMCgrlandMommy

  4. drillwifey says:
    November 21, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    Where are you getting that? Who’s said that?
    Fox news?
    Tricare is a government healthcare plan. Obama and the Dems want to offer a system like Tricare/Medicare to all Americans.
    They aren’t going to touch tricare. It’s one of the main reasons people stay in the military and it works. They want to model the govt healthcare program after tricare. drillwifey

  5. FRC says:
    November 25, 2009 at 6:49 am

    Actually, whether you pay or not depends on whether you enroll in Tricare Prime, Tricare Standard, or Tricare Overseas. In Prime, you pay nothing as long as you go to your Primary Care Manager for all initial visits and only to the specialists to which they refer you. This insurance costs nothing, but if you use a provider or service outside of the network, you have to pay the full cost and may not be reimbursed.

    Standard has a partial pay feature but also lets you pick whom you want to see and for whatever consultations and procedures you need. There is a partial repayment of the costs borne out of pocket, but you have to file the claim within one year of receiving treatment. If a person in Prime elects to change to Standard, they are locked out of re-enrolling in Prime for one year. I used this for my wife when my daughter was born. We were stationed in California, but my wife wanted to go back to Japan and use a Japanese hospital. However, since the base near her house had a hospital, they would not have referred her to the off base hospital and we would have had to pay the full bill out of pocket. But by shifting my wife to Standard, she was able to go directly to the city hospital for delivery and we filed for the money afterward. We are still waiting for that claim to be liquidated – and it is coming up on two years. After one year, I was able to switch her back to Prime, but chose to keep her in Standard because we are now back in Japan for duty and she can go directly to off-base providers that are covered by Japanese health insurance. Then we can file once a year with Tricare for her copayments and we recoup the costs out of pocket.

    If she stayed in Prime (which is called Overseas when in Japan), she would only be able to use the hospital on base unless the specialist required was not available. Access to a healthcare provider that can speak your language is NOT a factor in their referrals, hence we use Standard.

    Now, as an active duty member I can say that Tricare Prime for us is not that great. Battlefield medicine – meaning the treatment of battle injuries is outstanding. However, our continuing non-combat healthcare continues to lack. Many ships do not have a doctor and rely on a chief petty officer (E7 or E8) to run the ship’s medical department. And that includes conducting minor surgery like removing ingrown toenails. Up until 2009, you were entitled to see a doctor for a preventative health assessment/check-up once every five years. You are supposed to have more frequent consults if you have a chronic condition like high cholesterol, which I do, but often you get told to come back on the 5-year mark. My last check-up was with a chief petty officer. In 10 years, I have only seen 2 doctors for the treatment of serious illness, minor surgery, and routine check-ups. Everything else has been done by physician’s assistants (who are not that bad) or enlisted members.

    When I was diagnosed with hypertriglyceremia, which is genetic condition, I had to wait 6 months to see a specialist because of the backlog. Starting medication for that condition is critical and is considered “life-saving” treatment, but I had to wait 6 months on top of the years of cholesterol tests I had that had abnormally high triglycerides (normal is under 150, I was over 700). No one caught it from 1999 to 2007 until the PA at the clinic in Monterey noticed the pattern and it was not caused by my diet – which was mostly fish, vegetables and some rice at the time – meaning medication was my only option.

    Bottom line is Tricare is generally free for members and dependents, but treatment for the active duty family member is usually pretty bad. FRC

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