Tri Care Pays Physicians and Hospitals less than Medicare.
I’ve had trouble finding docs that take it & I’d say that is a big part of the reason why. When you add the slowness to the low reimbursement rate, who would want to accept it?
I think I must be extraordinarily lucky. I have Tricare Standard which is bumped to Select. Every medical facility accepts it here.
When OBAMACARE was first being discussed, (before it passed), I said that DOD wanted it because that would give them a chance to dump Tricare beneficiaries onto the private sector and keep the money for weapons instead.
The problems that will ensue if they do this is active duty family members will be forced to travel to see doctors and come up with the high deductibles and co-pays. Add to that the frequent transfers to another state with the need to apply again for insurance on the state exchange, (or Federal Exchange for that state), and you will see many cases of lapsed coverage and financial strain caused by that.
Finally, how do they handle dependents overseas? Especialy where there is no military hospital. Currently Tricare Global remote Overseas,(Prime ), contracts with local providers and hospitals for care for active duty and family members and Tricare pays the bill.
Then you have the issue of Tricare Standard overseas for retirees and their dependents. We would be left without any medical insurance, (which we earned and which was promised to us). US insurance companies won’t/can’t provide the coverage overseas because of all the rules of the different countries involved. Will DOD provide us with a “premium” in order to purchase local health insurance? Most overseas health inshurance companies have a 60-65 age limit for insurability.
As much as I dislike Tricare Standard overseas, (which in most cases requires us to file claims at the level required by US insurance companies and which locals doctors and hospital are unable to document at that level), at least we are getting better at “perfecting” our claims to the US standards, albeit with a lot of research on the internet to get the correct medical terminology and details required. Losing Tricare would leave us in limbo and the US Government would be breaking the promise of this benefit that we earned.