Health care scarce for military families

[elehhhhna]

June 2, 2005, 8:21PM

Health care scarce for military families
Repayment rate of the Tricare plan limits their choices
Associated Press

FORT WORTH - With thousands of reservists and National Guard members being called to duty, some families are not only left without a spouse's income but also their health insurance.

ADVERTISEMENT

The military provides Tricare, but with low reimbursement rates, many physicians hesitate accepting the government insurance. That has made access to health care difficult for reservist families.

Tricare's $18 billion health plan provides insurance to 9.1 million active-duty military members, their families and military retirees younger than 65.

"We stopped taking it three or four years ago," said Dr. Susan Blue, a Fort Worth neurologist and president of the Tarrant County Medical Society. "Reimbursement rates are not high these days with anyone, but the military was the first one to go to a point that it wasn't feasible financially to accept it anymore."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3209291

[finecraft]

1. Tricare doesn't work in rural areas

We have one doctor in town that sees Tricare patients, but he is not accepting any new Tricare patients (he says he continues to see his existing patients that have Tricare as a "courtesy"). To go to an ob-gyn that accepts Tricare, I have to drive two hours. To go to an ophthalmologist that accepts Tricare, I have to drive four hours. Any specialists are also a minimum of 4 hours away. Thank god our local hospital accepts Tricare, but we have to pay the full costs for any test that are done because none of the labs around here accept Tricare.

[AllegroRondo]

2. Tricare is a joke

We always said it meant "try and get care"