A correction from my original post...It may have been under $3K for my wife, but given the care that was required, that's still pretty cheap.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Your retirement plans . . .
- Thread starter robav8r
- Start date
A correction from my original post...It may have been under $3K for my wife, but given the care that was required, that's still pretty cheap.
Living in South Florida we have opted to utilize TRICARE Prime since we don’t have a MTF. Having a PCM that puts the referrals in and gets them approved is critical. Sometimes it can be a real pain finding a specialist that will accept TRICARE. I did my research for my recent old guy issue (cataract), and if the top three surgeons I found only one accepted TRICARE. Fortunately he was the best of the bunch, and did a great job with the latest equipment. Now I have one bionic eye and one standard issue. Side note, pretty startling how your vision tints (yellow) over your life with your cornea aging.
Overall since retirement I’ve paid next to nothing under TRICARE Prime. Turned out to be a better decision for us.
We are still trying to be to decide “where is the forever home”. Leaning a lot towards a place in Tennessee and keep another in Florida. Time will tell.
Overall since retirement I’ve paid next to nothing under TRICARE Prime. Turned out to be a better decision for us.
We are still trying to be to decide “where is the forever home”. Leaning a lot towards a place in Tennessee and keep another in Florida. Time will tell.
Thanks for the info. Seems like most here like Tricare for retirees. I did check with my doctor and our pediatrician- they both take Tricare so we will drop company insurance next year - with little kids just wanted to be very careful.
If anyone has any other gouge, would like to hear it.
Your kids can keep Tricare until they are 24 or so…an excellent benefit (make sure they are in DEERS).
Is there a big difference between Tricare Prime and Tricare Select for retirees?
The largest difference is that Select allows you to pick your doctors and does not require a referral to see a specialist. Prime is much like having an HMO plan. I use Select and like it, quite a lot.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
Once they hit 23 the cost even if in college skyrockets.
I now use VA exclusively, but I still have Prime. When I used Prime, I didn't really like it....What I never understood was that if you were under Prime, and you somehow scheduled a specialist appt w/o your primary care manager's authorization, is how Tricare would treat that. I could be totally wrong, but I thought they would bill that as if it was a Select appt???
Please go back and reread my earlier post, as there can be a huge difference depending on your medical needs and local area. Also, you want to double-check with those providers that they specifically take Prime if that's the way you want to go. It's very common that a provider will take Select but not Prime, so you need to specify when asking the office.
Prime can be a great choice if you want to minimize cost and don't have any real medical requirements. For me, the increased cost of Select (over time) outweighed the lack flexibility of Prime in my area.
Could you elaborate on the increased costs of Tricare Select? With little children, I think Tricare Select may be better than Tricare Prime, but I will need to make a selection soon with open enrollment coming up.
Q: What did Tennessee?
A: Same thing Arkansas.
Tell that joke to family/friends/co-workers…they’ll punch you in the face…don’t ask me how I know this.
Prime has a flat fee to use. You'd have to check if that fee is the same for spouse and children or if children are a reduced rate, but for the sake of the conversation, let's just say Prime costs $500/year for you. After that initial cost, there's no additional cost while you use a MTF. If you're using Prime Remote (or whatever it's called now) where you use Prime out in town because there is no MTF w/in 50 miles, there may be additional co-pays, but I'm not smart on that. Bottom line, it's not much money. However...as I mentioned, you need a referral for everything and if you're using it out in town, providers may not take it.
Select has a small yearly fee per user. We pay $30/month for both of us (that's new and it's gone up...it used to be free...thanks DoD) and it comes out of my pension check. If you don't use any services, that's all you pay, but if you do, you'll pay a co-pay. Co-pay amounts will depend on if it's a specialist or normal family care. Specialists are currently $51/visit. I think normal outpatient care is ~$37-ish. You may also pay something for the particular services rendered (x-rays, visit, etc) until you meet your deductible. That's where the extra costs come in...co-pays and the initial deductible. But after that, it's just the co-pays. (If you go to an ER, it's a different "catastrophic" deductible which is higher, so you'll pay more there. I think the cap is $5000.
My wife has had repeated need for specialists, so the flexibility to pick a provider out in town when you want it outweighs the reduced cost of Prime and the time it takes to get a referral through the Navy hospital. I seem to always have some sort of orthopedic thing going on, so reducing the wait time to see someone is worth the extra costs of Select. Plus I was so frustrated with Navy JAX PT when I used it while on active duty.
That said, we're DINK, have little debt, and are fortunate to live comfortably. What works for us may not be the same budget equation for someone else.
ETA: Here's the cost sheet from Tricare. It's a bit of an eye chart, but gives you actual numbers. https://tricare.mil/-/media/Files/TRICARE/Publications/FactSheets/Costs_Fees.pdf
Thank you for the details.