I wish that I had something good to say about my experience with Tricare and military medicine, but today I don’t. While I am fully aware that there are plenty of excellent physicians and medical professionals who do a great job taking care of their patients, I feel disappointed and frustrated with a system that sometimes doesn’t take care of its customers.
I know you are going to send me lots of emails (some angry) telling me how fortunate I am to be part of such a great system when so many people don’t have health insurance. And that is true. But I have also witnessed bureaucracy at its worst, and a system that is sometimes difficult for dependents to navigate.
Example 1: When we adopted our son from overseas, I called to ask about standard blood tests and a physical examination, recommended by our adoption specialist. The nurse at our local military clinic told me that I could only bring him in if he were sick, otherwise I had to wait for a well baby check. Really? A well baby check when this child has just arrived from an African orphanage? Turned out he had lots of health issues that needed immediate attention which he received when I took him to a civilian pediatrician.
Example 2: When I was pregnant with my last baby I was told that I wouldn’t be able to see a doctor or a nurse before week 12 of my pregnancy despite the fact that I had numerous mis-carriages, low progesterone, needed shots during the first part of my pregnancy, and had thyroid disease. I fought this one, but the doctor told me that they still wouldn’t see me before week 12 – their policy, nothing they could do about it. OK so maybe a mis-carriage isn’t high on their priority list. Again, I contacted an ob/gyn in town who monitored me closely.
Example 3: my husband has been ill for a few weeks and we have encountered the Bureaucratic Tricare Monster at its worst. Instead of being released from the hospital with home care (a nurse comes to our house to administer IV medicine) as ordered by his physicians, it took two days for the civilian hospital to get an approval pushed through Tricare. The solution? My husband was told he had to stay in the hospital, costing Tricare far more than if it had approved care at home.
I know it’s not all as bad as it was in these specific instances. Military medical professionals are stretched thin and working hard, usually with good results and Tricare does come through most of the times.
But my point, and I do have one besides my ranting, is that military medicine, and Tricare especially, can be too rigid. Its strength is that we have access to health care, but the downside is a lot of bureaucracy and lack of flexibility. Sometimes I feel as if I am dealing with the paperwork machine of civilian medicine, which is a shame.
Access to care for active duty and dependents needs to be a priority if the military wants to keep its word that we are all part of a large family.
I have had similar experiences
thank you for writing about it
Nope, no one saying how lucky you are here. I remember the days where if you called the Tricare “customer service” number (and I use that term loosely) you’d have to sit on hold for 45 minutes before you got a real live person who then didn’t have a clue as to what they were talking about. We have a few chronic health issues in our family between myself and our oldest son, and getting care is sometimes horrendous at best as far as the process. And up until very recently, we weren’t even active duty (we are now). We were a Ntl Guard family on the Reserve Select plan with supposedly more flexibility. Case in point, I ended up in labor and delivery severely dehydrated because I couldn’t even keep water down. Tricare didn’t want to pay for the medicine that worked the best because it was expensive. So I had to take another medication that required me to take a half a pill every 3 hours day and night just so I could drink water. So I was pregnant, getting up every 3 hours, and taking care of another child. I have yet to have an experience with them where I’d write a good review.
Tricare SUCKS. So glad to not be using them anymore. Totally feel your pain, Anita.
Ooo you did touch a nerve!
I once called to make an appointment because I was having panic attacks. The base nurse told me unless I was suicidal I would have to wait 2 weeks for an appointment! Almost made we want to fake it just to get an appointment.
I once took a medication that gave me heart palpitations almost to the point of passing out while I was exercising at the gym. It was the first day I had taken the medication and the info the pharmacy provided said if this side effect occured to immediately contact your doctor. I called my PM and let him know about it. He got back to me 10 hrs later telling me to just stop working out. Hmmm. Needless to say, those pills got flushed down the drain!
I’ve seen plenty of civilian doctors as our base is now letting TRICARE prime enrollees go in town because the base is overloaded. The wait time for an appt. is dramatically lower and the doctors aren’t nearly as rushed. They actually have the time to care!
I know military doctors do their best but they are too overloaded to provide proper care.
Thank you for the truth. After 13 years as a dependent, my medical file still only has 1 piece of paper in it…. the release form that allows my husband (active duty member) the authorization to look at my records. Your article is EXACTLY the reasons why. Thanks goodness I do not NEED Tricare. I can’t even get my current appt line to call ME back when I have left 3 legit phone numbers, my current DEERS info, and a good email address; all in the name of “THIS MAKES IT EASIER FOR YOU”. On the flip side, I do have friends that are part of the EFMP and have had no complaints.
All I ask for is minimal PREVENTENTIVE care and not a kneejerk reaction to a catastrophe. I will continue to “keep the faith?” and pray that all will be well when I can afford to trudge through the civilian world of health care.
“Access to care for active duty and dependents needs to be a priority if the military wants to keep its word that we are all part of a large family.”
Disagree with this line. It should be access for all military and dependents regardless of status of “active, retired, reserves” should be a priority. Try being retired and use tricare.
The tricare premium overhaul that is proposed should be reversed.
Due to active duty status receiving housing allowances, meal allowances and sometimes COLAs they should have to pay the premium for dependents to use tricare prime not the retirees. Gov’t still sticks it to the least paid even after you give 20+ years of your life for them to have the freedom to do what they do. Many of us have had to put having a family off due to frequent deployments and wait times to try for a family to ensure that the stuff the soldier is given to keep them from getting malaria etc is out of their system so that it won’t affect the baby. This makes the average retiring soldier today have at least 2 young kids to provide for on a very small retirement check. None of this is taken into consideration when changes to any of the so called benefits. Just got the short end of the stick on the GI Bill reform that allows portabilty to family members. Retired or Retiring soon can’t let your family use your GI Bill.
The retirees and their spouses are the ones that have been pushing for the portablility of your GI Bill & look how it ended up. Left out again…
I am so glad that I am not the only one that has dealt with this. I have dealt with some unbelievable stuff, that it makes me question the competency of some of the doctors, nurses, secretaries, and the customer service reps that work for Tricare. The amount of common courtsey that I have been shown when trying to schedule an appointment has been slim to none. Then they tell you to call the clinic, who tells you to call back after sick call. So, while you are suffering with a sinus infection and you know that you need an antibotic, you can’t get an appointment because you need to call back after sick call. They also kept me unnecessarily for 2 weeks in the hospital because they put me into preterm labor. While I was having contractions, they just let me lie there. They drew my blood with no gloves on and allowed it to sit and clot, so they had to draw it again. They didn’t put my name on my urine sample, so I had to pee in a cup again. I will never have a child in a military facility again. When we would go for pediatric appointments, the stupid nurse would put scheduled appointments after us in rooms for them to be seen before us. I would leave messages and no one would call back. They finally told us to switch because the base was to full. I saw a GI doctor without an updated referral (my fault and the GI’s fault), and when I called my PCM to get a backdated referral they told me that it would be up to a commander to decide whether or not he would submit the request for the backdate. I was also told that it would depend on why I did not get the referral in time for the appointment and if it wasn’t a good reason, then he would not approve it. I had Tricare override it.
I have gone to Tricare Standard. I just could not take it anymore. There is no way that someone gets to decide if my claims get paid or not. I can sympathize with you immensily and hope that your experiences get better. You are not the only one fighting the battle. They just refuse to give in and be nice!!
I am so glad someone is being honest about TRICARE. True, it’s better than no healthcare at all, but is that the best our country can do? Just because we have some healthcare doesn’t mean we should be satisfied with bad healthcare.
It takes a month or more to get an appointment. They tell you can call at 6 am to get a same-day appointment, but when you call you’re put on hold, and by the time they get to you they say there are no more appointments available that day.
I needed a referral but first I had to make an appointment with my PMC. It took a month to get that appointment. Then my PMC said okay, she would refer me to a specialist. It took three days for the referral to clear the system. When that went through, the specialist said I had to be referred to someone outside the military system. When I called one of those doctors I was told I would have to wait 6 weeks for an appointment.
It’s been almost a year since my problem first appeared, and I won’t be able to see anyone about it until September 29.
I lived in Canada for four years, and I NEVER had problems getting medical care. Never. This included two major surgeries where I didn’t have to wait at all–contrary to everything you hear in the media.
Can’t this country do better? We’re supposed to be the greatest country in the world, with the greatest military in the world. And yet the families of service members have to jump through hoops to get quality care.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your article on TRICARE! It is SO true. While I am grateful for the healthcare access, sometimes it is too much of a hassle, and I just say “forget it!” For example: I had an u/s for abdominal pain on 8/21, and can’t get in for a doctor consult on it until 9/9. And that’s after 6 months or so of fighting with one doctor to do something besides bloodwork and sending me home. I just sit here hoping it’s not cancer running rampant in my body while I wait for them to have time to see me. They told me I could try to make a next day appt. if the pain increased. Maybe I should just lie?? And going to a civilian doctor is great if one can afford to, which most of the military families I know can’t afford to do that. And getting it approved by TRICARE is another headache altogether. And don’t even get me started on when my step-daughter came to visit (who is Prime), and we needed to take her to the doctor! They wouldn’t see her at our MTF because she was Prime and all the Standard patients come first. That we could switch her for her visit, which incidentally wouldn’t take effect until a week after she left! Finally, I am apalled at how they treat pregnant women in the military! First they heard us all together like a bunch of cows for that first “appt” where they test you and give you a booklet. And then won’t even let you see a doctor until after 12wks all the while preaching about good pre-natal care. Do they not realize that the 1st trimester is when pre-natal care is most crucial? And like you, what about those of us who have high risk pregnancies? After we went through IVF in DC, I was supposed to have bloodwork and a confirmation u/s done on certain dates. We went back to VA, expecting it wouldn’t be a problem. While the bloodwork wasn’t such a tough hurdle, trying to get the u/s at 5wks was impossible. They wouldn’t let us in, even after explaining everything, until after our “cow herd” appt, and then the first doctor visit at 12wks. I ended up having a friend’s mom do it after hours in a civilian clinic!
Sorry to rant on, but I just wanted to let you know I agree. While grateful to have healthcare when some aren’t so lucky, I often feel like I’m working with an automated system that can’t think on it’s own about special circumstances. What can we do to change it??? I was told by my patient advocate that it would take an act of congress!!!
Oops, got my Prime and Standard mixed up!
I read your post on Military.com and I fully agree with you. I didn’t realize the poor quality in care until I started working in the medical field myself. I work in pediatrics and luckly my job allowed to write off what tricare would not cover. My children got the best health care! Now that I no longer work for that company I started taking my children to the MTF. Getting an appointment is ridiculous!! You have to call around 6am to get something for today..You cant book in advance unless it is a well child appointment. Even then when my son turned 15mo’s his pediatrician repeated the well child visit and then told me that since he recieved his 18mo shots already he would not have to be seen until he was 2yrs old. Fine i can go along with that but he has Reactive airways…the protocol for that is i have to call the appointment line cross my fingers to see if there is an appointment if not I have to go to the local ER..even then I have to get a prior authorization. I know that if my son is in obvious distress to take him to the ER, but most of the time it just requires a simple steroid syrup for 5 days and then thats that.
Anyway, I am so glad you brought this issue to light! Hopefully the higher ups will see that it is unfair and do something about it!!
I completely agree with everything you said and everyone who has made comments. You don’t realize the downside of Tricare until you really need to use it. I too have gone through the hoops to be able to get an appointment, waited 5 days until a nurse called me back about a possible emergency situation, a dermatology referral for my child which took more than 3 months (thankfully the problem cleared up on its own), and just lack of quality care.
It’s sad to say that this is what happens when our military accepts the lowest bidder. Seems to me like we should and could be better.
Well said.
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