If you are career Military, you can go Medicare/Tricare life. No Bills to pay for either meds or hospitals. Use a private Pharmacy you have co-pays.
Have a nearby base will have a Pharmacy for Scripts, Depending on size of base they carry most prescriptions. Tip go on Monday’s Commissary is closed.
For Meds they don’t carry Express Scripts mail order. DO NOT let them in your bank account for auto pay. Write a check. They are slow. 3 months for 90 days is 1 co-pay. instead of 3. Hubby gets Welchol every 3 months.
Both take refills via automatic call in. At Base if doctor sends in a new script you have to call and activate it.
1 good thing for me is they only carry name brand Synthroid. Had to many side effects from Generic they don’t use it.
$38 K is VA cap go over use private doctors and hospitals.
I’ll be 65 in October so will be sifting over to to that.
We use mostly Civilian Docs under TriCare Standard and have the usual co-pays until we meet our cap.
Get all my Meds from out at Ft Bragg.
Describes my situation pretty darn close. USAF Retired with Tri-Care for life. I have not been forced to utilize the VA system which is at a minimum a 25 mile jaunt. Great care in the local hospital monopoly, that is soon to have some competition.
On another previously discussed issue, there have rarely been complaints about VA care in South Dakota. I know of two great doctors who grew tired of the local medical politics, and hired on at the VA for considerably less compensation and are positively overjoyed at the difference in their treatment as Doctors.