I have had military medical care while on active duty and now as a retired Marine. We now live in Air Force country. Both the Navy and Air Force have have provided good care, I have no complaints about the doctors or staff. But nowadays, there are not enough doctors to take care of the active duty forces let alone adding the dependents and retirees. Where we are, just try to get an appointment for a routine screening exam. As an example, last fall I had to all 4 times to TRY to get an appointment and each time the guidelines for scheduling changed. I finally got in when someone canceled! And then it was not with the doctor to whose “team” I am assigned, I saw a PA..who was quite good but you go expecting to see the doctor..
And for just about any other procedure you need a reference from you PCP to another specialty. I know that is the case with HMOs too. And Tricare Prime is an HMO.
As to this idiot who wrote this article, how long did he serve this nation in the armed forces? How many times was he deployed and his family left behind? Does he not know military personnel are paid for a 24 hour day 365 days a year for being on call or subject to it? No and if you figure it out that way, you would see we were way underpaid for the number of hours we had to be at the ready.