Military Retiree Health Care Options

[k3mbbc]

I just finished attending the Transition Assistance Seminar at my base and left there with a big question on my mind regarding health care.

It seems that Tricare Prime is a great deal for retirees. My question is....if you are a retiree and fly for the airlines, is it worthwhile to buy into the company health care as well as Tricare? Do they tend to compliment each other?

Appreciate any insight.

 

[ironspud]

I just finished attending the Transition Assistance Seminar at my base and left there with a big question on my mind regarding health care.

It seems that Tricare Prime is a great deal for retirees. My question is....if you are a retiree and fly for the airlines, is it worthwhile to buy into the company health care as well as Tricare? Do they tend to compliment each other?

Appreciate any insight.

I'm a Tricare Prime enrollee. But I also live in a big military town. It has been really great for us. Prior to being purged from the AA rolls and retiring I was offered their active and retired medical "bennies". It was way too expensive when laid out next to Tricare so I declined. It's been a good move for us.

Here are 2 things to consider.
1. Availability of Tricare providers in your area. Usually lot's of them in a big military town. Rare in small towns/communities. Check their website.
2. Tricare is cheap now ($460 for a family plan per year), but it is going to double if not triple in the coming years.

As to buying into the company and Tricare at the same time - I would recommend weighing the monthly/annual premium costs. I did it for a short while and wound up relying almost totally on Tricare and giving up on AA plans. I didn't feel like I gained that much by having 2 health plans, and in many cases it just got confusing. Tricare is cheap right now. Why not try them both out for a year and see if it fits for you.

Good luck and thanks for your service.

 

[F-15.Ramps]

I retired in 2000 and paid into Tri-Care Prime. While I agree it is a great deal, it can also be somewhat limiting in your choice of providers. Tri-Care standard (which costs $0.00) requires a greater co-pay, but has a much larger network. I jettisoned Prime after 1 1/2 years.

I do participate in FedEx's "Prime" plan ($100ish per month). I then file with Tri-Care as my secondary insurance. You're probably aware, but Tri-Care is always your secondary insurance (unless it's your ONLY insurance) as directed by Federal Law.

I live in the Denver area and this combo works well for my family. Other folks may have differing opinions (and I'm sure they'll let us know!).

Stand-by for the "Why isn't this thread on the Military page..." comments.

 

[ironspud]

I retired in 2000 and paid into Tri-Care Prime. While I agree it is a great deal, it can also be somewhat limiting in your choice of providers. Tri-Care standard (which costs $0.00) requires a greater co-pay, but has a much larger network. I jettisoned Prime after 1 1/2 years.

I do participate in FedEx's "Prime" plan ($100ish per month). I then file with Tri-Care as my secondary insurance. You're probably aware, but Tri-Care is always your secondary insurance (unless it's your ONLY insurance) as directed by Federal Law.

I live in the Denver area and this combo works well for my family. Other folks may have differing opinions (and I'm sure they'll let us know!).

Stand-by for the "Why isn't this thread on the Military page..." comments.

GATORS rock!!

 

[F-15.Ramps]

BIG ONE this weekend!

Glad it's in the Swamp!!

 

[JimNtexas]

I live in Austin and use Tricare Extra along with a supplement from the Military Officers Association. I don't think there are any GPs in Austin who are Tricare participants, so at my GP I have to pay up front and then file twice, once for Tricare, and then once for the supplement. In the fullness of time I get most of my money back.

I've used hospitals a few times over the years and I've rarely paid much of anything out of pocket, all the hospitals I've dealt with will file both Tricare and then the supplement.

Drugs are a great deal, very cheap, drive through Walgreen's to pick them up.

I'm self-employed now, but in the past ten years I've worked on a W-2 in some software startups that had medical. I always continued to pay on my Tricare supplemental because in the software business employment is always very uncertain. You never know if your company, let alone your job, is going to be there when you show up for work.

Now that I'm on my own Tricare is a Godsend.

 

[FNG320]

I've been retired for almost 4 years. Even when in the military my family saw the Flight Doc onbase and we did tricare STD for other treatment downtown when needed. Now that I'm retired, we stayed with the Tricare STD. First it cost $0 so far to enroll and will still be $0 next year. There is a $150 individual/$300 family deductable (I think) and then Tricare STD (formally champus) pays 80% of the allowable charges. Then you pay the remaining 20%.

If you live in an area where there are lots of DRs that accept tricare for will file for you, it take away almost all of the paperwork. Since they all know what Tricare will pay, you pay your 20% and that's it (after meeting deductable) as they write off any portion that is above the allowable charge. An additional advantage is that you can go out of network if you desire and then pay the bill and file it yourself with Tricare. You also have lots of options to chose from in the way of doctors and you don't have to wait for the base or your primary care phy. to write you a referral. Just go. Sometimes choice is worth any additional cost you may incur. (plus it keeps the wife happy!)

If you don't live near a military base, Tricare STD may be you only option as there may not be may Tricare doctors around.

If you do Tricare Prime, you are "suppose" to be the same as a dependant of an active duty Prime participant. You most like know the good/bad of that so no need to discuss that.

As for you company insurance, you will just have to compare the facts and benefits. Hey, maybe you can get the company insurance for the same cost of a Tricare Sup or Tricare Prime enrollment fee, then file with the company insurance and then file any unpaid balance with Tricare STD (Tricare requires you to file with other full medical insurance companies first).

As for me, I just do Tricare STD with no supplement policy. Just pay the deductable and 20% copay.

Good luck with your decision

Just my opinon..... Good Luck

FNG

 

[k3mbbc]

Thanks for everyone's comments....makes a little more sense.

 

[GCD]

Wow! You guys actually have transition offices? I thought that was some AFN propoganda. You guys actually get to retire?

Hell, the Army has us stop-lossed since 2001, and if they do let you retire, they just say good luck, get lossed, and don't ask for any help.

Yours truly,

Mr. Third year away, losing $50K each year and wanting to retire.

 

[ExAF]

Geaux Tigers!

BIG ONE this weekend!

Glad it's in the Swamp!!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah...almost forgot. Tricare Prime is a good deal and cheap if you have providers in your area. Tricare standard is still a pretty good deal if prime doesn't work in your area. If you and your family stay pretty healthy Standard can be really cheap but still provide great coverage for catastrophic cases. You will have to compare the costs up front vs the 80/20 split without the up front costs (and deductible). When furloughed Tricare was a Godsend. Much cheaper than COBRA and actually affordable. There's a lot of good info on line at the Tricare site.

 

[Murphy]

I have Tricare Prime. The yearly rate is going up over the next three years. I read where it will be about $1800/yr in the 2008/09 time frame. I live in the Metropolitan D.C. area so a lot of doctors to choose from that accept Tricare. We pay the $12 co-pay at each visit. I elected to use MetLife through AirTran for dental care.

 

[JimGlasair3]

Don't forget the BEST benefit of Tricare is that you will still have coverage past the age of 60 (or 65) when your airline kicks you out the door!
That's the only reason I'm still drillin'!

 

[k3mbbc]

It seems like from what I'm reading that most people use their airline health care as primary and use either Tricare Prime or Tricare Standard as a secondary coverage.

I think that makes sense as long as the two health care policies compliment each other and Tricare can cover those things that the airline policy cannot.

I was surprised to learn that Tricare does not offer vision or dental care for retirees. Do most airline policies offer these?

 

[k3mbbc]

GCD, thanks for what you are doing. The Army is definitely making a difference on the war on terror....I just didn't realize that stoploss has been in effect the whole time.

 

[GCD]

I truly thank you for saying that.

Seriously though, I plan to stick with Tricare Standard because I don't live near any active militatry facilities.

 

[jsingel]

retiree dental

k3mbbc,
There is a retiree dental program. The SWA benefits are much better so I did not sign up for the military retiree plan and only use SWA dental plan. Also, we have a great vision program. For regular insurance, I only use Prime, no company (I live in SAT with Wilford Hall and BAMCC, plus mucho doctors that take Tricare) and they pay me $25 a month to not take the company. Almost offsets 1/2 the other stuff I pay for. BTW, welcome aboard!

P.S. Tricare has never done the dental stuff. It's always a separate company (Concordia etc), even for active duty dependents.

 

[SkiFishFly]

I use Tricare Standard with a supplement from MOAA.
My wife always used standard while I was on active duty - no waiting for some idiot to give you a referal and you get to choose the doc. This was always worth the slightly higher expense.
This option is much less expensive than what AirTran had to offer.
We did sign up for the Met Life dental. It was about the same as what concordia offered and this way we reset the "lifetime caps". If anyone in your family has already had braces, you may want to switch dental plans when you have the chance. Most have some sort of lifetime max that they will pay for braces or similar type work. Once you exhaust that - further work is oout of your pocket.

 

[densoo]

I use Tricare Prime for health, company plans for dental and vision. Cost rise for premiums has been kicked down the road for a year or two due to the uproar from retirees. (If you want to stay up on these issue, I highly recommend joining MOAA at http://www.moaa.org/)

As far as providers go, a lot depends on your region. I'm in the northeast region and two years ago managment was taken over by Healthnet. It is a fantastic deal now.

Healthnet identified regions that were not near a military treatment facility and basically opened up in-network doctors to most Champus providers. Then they made a policy that I don't have to get preauthorizations/precerts anymore for anything, period, if the doctor is in network. Before you had to go through Primary care doctor for a referral every time. Now it all "self-referral."

Each region of the country is managed differently, and your zip code will determine you get managed within your region.

If you live in the northeast, here is the link to the provider list. If they're on the list, you can go to them. You may or may not need a referral.

https://www.hnfs.net//ProviderDirectory/search.aspx?Portal=bene&Tab=home&TabSeq=1&ps=bp&frmRegion=N

 

[T2Pilot]

I use Tricare Standard with a supplement from my wife's job. You don't have to enroll and you can go to any doc though its best to use a participating doc for filing simplicity. Prime is too restrictive in my opinion especially if you travel a lot. Between standard and the supplement everything gets covered including the deductables and co-payments. There is a dental plan - Tricare Retiree Dental Program. You can enroll at www.trdp.org. It's seems expensive to me though but it varies by where you live. I'll be paying about $100 a month for the family plan. If you sign up within a certain time frame of your retirement date there is no waiting period for any treatments. That's good for me since I've got a child in braces. I don't have any alternative dental coverage yet so I went with it.

 

[T2Pilot]

Wow! You guys actually have transition offices? I thought that was some AFN propoganda. You guys actually get to retire?

Hell, the Army has us stop-lossed since 2001, and if they do let you retire, they just say good luck, get lossed, and don't ask for any help.

Yours truly,

Mr. Third year away, losing $50K each year and wanting to retire.

I know the Army has been giving a raw deal with the stop-losses but all the services are required by law to have a transition assistance program. They are run in partnership with the department of Labor. Your home base should have regular classes. Check out the DoD Transition Assistance web site at: http://www.dodtransportal.dod.mil/dav/lsnmedia/LSN/dodtransportal/

You don't need to use a .mil computer to get to it. It can explain the services available and lists all the transition offices.