When we were overseas, we switched from Tricare Prime (everything covered 100%, but must receive care on base unless you have permission to do otherwise) to Tricare Standard (high co-pay and deductible, but free to choose any doctor we wanted)), because we were so incredibly displeased with the care on base.
They never made any effort to help you get an appointment if you didn't know to ask them to check for openings in the other clinics (e.g., if you were calling about your child, they would check peds only and not family practice). They really weren't equipped to handle kids, beyond vaccination and acute illness. For example, they didn't have any crutches for kids, and everyone we met could tell that Roman got the cast for his broken leg on base, because it was so ugly (just poorly done). Hubby had a horrible, spreading rash at one point, and the ER doctor told him he needed to see dermatology ASAP, but dermatology refused to see him for a full 28 days after that! Hubby also had an outpatient procedure botched three times(!) at the Heidelberg hospital before they finally referred him to Landstuhl, where they got it right the first time and had actually seen him and completed the thing before his scheduled appointment (we got there a little early)!
So, yeah, not so impressed with Tricare. :thumbsdown:
:yeahthat: Well, that and the fact that at least 80% of the time I've
ever brought my kids into a base clinic, I've gotten yelled at or rudely berated for something, usually nothing that was of any consequence (like leaving a sweating 1yo in her diaper to walk down the hall in the 90 degree building instead of putting all her clothes back on - my freaking gosh, she could've died of hypothermia right there
). At this point, I so rarely go to the clinic that when I do go, I grit my teeth and just expect a less than stellar experience. I had to take ds3 in for a referral appt a couple of weeks ago and when I called the military hospital the next day, you *know* I was extremely bummed that they had to send me out to a civilian, due to no-availability
.
Ds2 was born at the naval hospital and so help me, I aim to never, ever repeat that experience again. Because of it, I started looking at my options, which ultimately led to ds3 being born at home (on purpose
). I'll stop now, but unless there's something that would fall under "catastrophic," we pay for our own health care, if you consider we're paying for organic, natural supplements, herbs, essential oils, chiropractic care, prenatal care, etc.