Can you use the VA and Tricare.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong. You can use your Tricare for all of your needs, You can inly use the VA for those issues that are service connected. I prefer to use me Tricare my DR is right down the street vs getting an appointment and going to the clinic 30 minutes away. My choice.
Mike

Maddog is right. Tricare has even covered care for my s/c injuries, since I (still) haven't been able to get a VA appointmnet.

You can use botha at the same time. If you want to use the VA though, you have to have some service connected disability. Also, if you are 50% SC or more, you are not charged copay's.

There are other variables involved in using the VA and I suggest you give them a call. The number is 1-800-827-1000. That will connect you with the VA in the state you are placing the call from.

--Jim
Life is good

They both are terrible. The medical services are substandard. But in case of emergency, is better than having nothing. If you want quality medical attention and follow-up, if you can afford a real health insurance, get one and see a real Dr. Tricare and VA only have rookies and ancient Dr. who can't make it on the real world. There is no continuity and no follow up. I get every 6 months a letter telling me that me primary Dr. is someone else. I rest my case. However, for the purpose of getting cheap prescriptions filled, it's worth it. I take high blood pressure medication. A supply of 90 days cost $285. W/ Tricare Prime, I only pay $27. That's a saving of $258/90 days. So for $33/month out of my retirement pay, I'm still $159 on top, and that's just me. And I still have the option of using them, especially for ER.

Keko, that is you and your situation, based on your area. It is not like that for everyone....

I have had the same primary doctor for years... and the same with my VA doctor. The VA follows up extreemly well here.. with everything from bloodwork, eye exams to stool samples..

My son had to have his appendix taken out.. the bill was over 21K.. It cost me about $125.00 -- thanks to Tricare prime.

I get my blood pressue pills for nothing,in fact I get them all for nothing, .... and my wifes pills cost me $9 for 90 days for each script. (mail order)

Maybe you should think of retireing out of the Alexandria area.. Too many military, active & retired up there...

Life is good!... no, it's GREAT!

Wray...

kekojones123,

Maybe you should change to Tricare Standard and get rid of a primary Care Doctor. Tricare has paid for my family to be seen by some big name Doctors in some of the top hospitals in Boston.

Keko, I have to disagree with you. As Wray said, that's your situation based on your area.

Here in Maine I have great care from both the VA and my PCP through Tricare Prime.

Maybe you do need to move.

--Jim

Maine - The Way Life Should Be

Life is good

I understand and respect your opinion. I can only go from my personal experience...and by the way, that of my oldest daughters. Both go to Radford University (about 275 SW of DC) and Tricare Prime is inadequate for healthcare. Only ER and medications. But I hear you all. I can’t sit here and say nothing when I read that the services are good, because they are not. Why would I move to a place based on the fact that Tricare Prime and VA are good in that area? I move to an area for many other reasons. Nevertheless, it is also good to know that as a last resource, we (I) have medical care which is the number 1 reason for personal bankruptcy in the US.

Keko, My Tricare services are outstanding. I have not used the local VA( I am elgible). But I have never had a problem with Prime for the family no matter where I was stationed. We have switched DR's a few times but that was our choice. If the family is getting poor care maybe you shpuld talk to the Tricare Service center.

Mike

Maddog, you are correct. I should communicate our experiences and concerns for the benefit of all. I will. I'm sure in some areas the services are good and it shouldn't be that way. The service provided should be consistent in all areas. But in all honesty, chances are it will do no good.

quote:

But in all honesty, chances are it will do no good.

Keko, I beg to differ. Several years ago we received deplorable care from a local ER - even with an empty waiting room, it took 1/2 an hour to get registered, another 45 min. to have vitals recorded, etc. - so we walked out and suffered until we could see the PCM.

I wrote several carefully worded letters to TriCare detailing everything, especially the fact that the hospital sent us a bill for $25.00! (Yup, they rent the chairs...)

I not only got a response, by mail, inside a week, I actually got a personal call from the area manager. We ended up speaking 4 more times while he investigated what had (not) happened, he got the $25. waived and he placed a follow-up call to ensure everything was okay.

It's kind of like the lottery: if you don't play, you don't have a chance. Write a letter and be persistant with your comlaint process.

Magic8ball, I do that. If nothing else, it should establish some history and documentation.

Thanks

quote:

They both are terrible. The medical services are substandard. But in case of emergency, is better than having nothing. If you want quality medical attention and follow-up, if you can afford a real health insurance, get one and see a real Dr. Tricare and VA only have rookies and ancient Dr. who can't make it on the real world

Gosh Keko - to jump on the proverbial bandwagon I guess I better go tell my primary care manager that he is a rookie (or ancient) which he is neither by the way or tell my neurosurgeon - who is one of Michigan's finest and had me walking upright, without pain the same day as the surgery he did, that he can't make it on the outside...

Since I retired in 2001, I have moved once and changed Primary Care Managers twice in the town I live in...I didn't like the doctor's "bedside" manner; as a doctor she was technically good, her nurses were excellent, but her personality and mine didn't mesh. So I searched for and found a new manager. Just now, in 3 minutes I searched and found 10 PCMs in Port Huron, MI who are Prime Doctors and open for enrollment. The nice thing about Prime is that you can change your PCM if you want; and I am sure searching MyTricare's database for where you live you should find many more providers then I did. I have coronary artery disease; I even had the option of choosing a Cardiologist to be my primary care provider since that is my most serious problem; but I handpicked the Doctor I have and am darn glad he is my DR.

WRT to the VA? Once again, I will have to state it is the luck of the draw; my experiences with them are limited somewhat; when I was stationed in Key West on active duty, VA Regional Medical Center Miami was the PCM for Active Duty Coast Guard Personnel in Miami and their specialty clinics were used for referrals. The same with VA Palo Alto, CA.

Both Miami and Palo Alto were teaching hospitals; U of M Med School and MedCen were attached in Miami and Stanford's School of Medicine with Palo Alto. I can assure you that when I had an angioplasty done at VA Palo Alto, the supervising cardiologist was also the Chief Cardiologist at Stanford's Medical Center, one of the best in the US and my sleep studies done at VA Miami were done in U of M Medical Center's Sleep Lab.

I know Keko that it is a "local" problem; and many can counter with just as equal tales of horror - I remember hearing stories about the VA Hospitals in the 50s - 80s and them generally being storage facilities and really terrible places for vets in need of long term constant medical care (I went to a funeral for an uncle once and met a distant cousin who looked like he was still living in 1944; including his suit, haircut, etc. who had two big burly "companions". They were orderlies from the local VA Hospital; cousin Jerry was injured in the ETO during 1944 and was never the same; institutionalized for life in a padded room...with no chance of recovery...). In the 80s the VA began to get better; now they are understaffed and overworked; daily the ranks of disabled Vets continues to grow - and the administration in office now has been just as bad as watching out for Vets and Active Duty as the last guy's administration.

Do a search at MyTricare for a new Prime Provider; sorry you have bad luck with what you have; but you do have the option to change - one of the nicest things about it.

My recent neck surgery, a diskectomy with fusion, was billed at $44,000.00. I paid my $30 cost share and said thank you very much. My followup visits are only $12; works for me, works very good for me!