RE: http://www.military.com/featur...15240,195077,00.html

Might not be a bad idea to post this article somewhere on each of the different Military Branch Forums.

Good article, kinda struck me right near the end as being a classic case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Humana and South Carolina seem to be doing something right so we'll get rid of them one way or another.
I know, I know it wasn't all about South Carolina.
It IS all about someone not getting rich enough.
And one way or another the Military, both Active and Retired are going to once again take it right up the whazoo.

Wonder who the new CZAR in charge of the system will be? Since the old system worked, a new civilian who never served will probably be in charge of looking out for our troops and their families.

GO OBAMA, (yeah Right)

quote:

Originally posted by RiverRat139:
Might not be a bad idea to post this article somewhere on each of the different Military Branch Forums.

Good article, kinda struck me right near the end as being a classic case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Humana and South Carolina seem to be doing something right so we'll get rid of them one way or another.
I know, I know it wasn't all about South Carolina.
It IS all about someone not getting rich enough.
And one way or another the Military, both Active and Retired are going to once again take it right up the whazoo.

I could not have said it better!!!

Once again the powers that be have adopted the plans of the 1990's, "Do more with less" and "If it ain't broke, fix it til it is".

Just another ramp up to an erosion of benefits. So much for the enlistment promises.

This just goes to show that no one cares about the military, their families, retired and their families. We are Prime and have to drive and hour to be seen by a PCM. So now I'm sure they will get rid of our Prime and we will have to go to Standard. Where's the justice? Our service men & women, veterans and families once again get the short end of the deal. It's not enough that they fight for our country oh but let's really stick it to them w/ healthcare. If I had a chance to say something to Obama, I would say, "gee thanks a lot for looking out for the military family. Thanks for screwing us over, once again"....and then walk away.

I worked for Humana/Tricare for 7 years and I can tell you why they lost the contract. They treated their employees like second class citizens. They paid the support workers very little. And almost never promoted from within. I just could not understand where all of the money went that the government was paying them to manage the contract. It must have went to the managers/CEO's. We got used furniture and computers. Just was not good managers of the Tricare contract. They should have took some pointers from Triwest they got to keep their contract. I worked for them also they pay good and treat their support staff with respect. I hope United Healthcare will do a better job.

Aetnea wins another no bid contract. HMMMMMMMMMM... they are getting sooo big You know what comes next, new system, means new Prices!!!! I can see TRICA$$# going up a few dollars along with my alreaady new electric bill, cable bill and phone bill and last but not least my new housing tax bill. New Jersey sucks!!!

Triwest should have been the first to go. I had to deal with it when I was enrolled in Prime. The employees were the most uncaring, rude people I ever spoke with. They denied just about everything I or my Doctor requested. I even had to change Doctors because mine said she would not deal with them anymore, after the last denial of a test she wanted me to have.

I wonder if the reason it got to keep its contract was because the person who organized the company use to brag on the Triwest website how he was a former aide to McCain. I used to see a lot of complaints about Triwest on various forums on the internet. I also thought it was curious that it named itself "Triwest." Lots of people get confused over this and think they are dealing with Tricare.

Curious.

Thank goodness, Healthnet is going away. I fought for 2 years trying to get my medical care both in VA and IL. The only doctors they contracted with were the ones who I would honestly never take my pet to see. Or they were physicians who were 70 plus miles away from my home. The latter was especially so in IL. I lived in Springfield, IL a fairly large city and there were a few specialists close by but you had to have a PCP in order to see the specialists and those providers were 140 miles roundtrip. I complained loudly to Healthnet with no response; I then Senator Obama's office and an investigation was begun which brought a call from a CDR at Portsmouth who told me there was nothing that could be done and that is just how the system worked. I was also told by him that my "one voice" which I said I would continue to use, would result in "nothing" and "there had to be many voices to create change". Next a Divisional Healthnet employee called and told me that "they" had simply "forgotten to take care of the retirees when contracting for PCP's in central IL and suggested" and I should go so far as to move to St. Louis or Chicago where they had greater numbers of PCP's for retirees. Two years of this nonsense was too much and I moved, not to Chicago or St. Louis but to San Diego where I no longer have to fight for my care. I fought and was ready to sacrifice my life for my country for 28 years and earned medical care for my remaining years and should never have had to fight for it. Oh it was broken all right! Worry about prices going higher by hiring someone else to carry the contract? That is up to us. If the subject comes up then each one of us has to jump in with all we have and say: NO! It is up to Congress, the Senate, and the President if that is to happen and contrary to popular opinion they work for us! So be sure to yell loud in the right direction. TEAMWORK!

Once again, the higher powers to be; They have decided to mess things up again. It is a shame that always someone wants to complate matters of the Veterans. Sure, I have had problems with the insurance in the past, but they have always been worked out. You can only be sure that one thing will happen. Longer phone calls to try to get stuff straighten out, with inexperiance clerks, longer wait time for bills to be paid, procedures denied for no good reason. For goodness sake, don't mess with something that is not broken!!!! It always seems that the veterans are the first to be sc#####! But the first to be called on in other stituations!!

I personally believe this is the cover up to try and do what there have been trying to do with TRICARE for the last years, that is, increase the PREMIUMS for Retirees TRICARE cost. After serving my country for 24+ years I believe we deserve what's rightfully ours and not at a Higher Price then we have sacrificed for our Country!!!!!!

7451967 I bet you are dead on. DOD been trying to cut the cost of the Tricare program by raising our annual cost and out of pocket for years. I bet a great many of us end up on standard as it will save them the most money, as you know that MTF's aren't gonna open the doors back up to us anytime soon. Get ready for a roller coaster ride.

We served and were promised - yet they seem to be able to break those promises at every turning point. I am a benefits administrator for a civilian company now, and I always believe our time in the military was worth it to get the medical benefits that are now eroding away..Had we know then what we know now, I wonder if we would have made all those sacrifices...

How about that? All these years we never once failed to place ourselves in harm's way when needed, never ran away from our commitment to protect the American way of life, nor did we complain when sent to fight someone else’s battles. Is it too much to ask for a fair shake now when we are asked to live the rest of our lives on some measly stipend each month? What happened to all the "Thanks for serving" and "We are grateful for your service" stuff? Apparently this change will save some money but its OK if it costs the lives and health of our military members.

This bites!!! I currently live 40 minutes from Fort Campbell but enjoy being able to go three blocks away to my PCM & hospital. I never have a problem getting in when I call. If they take away my Prime area then we be come 2d class citizens again. It is bad enought o take a kid out of school for an hour let alone three just to do a round trip. Did they ever give any thought about what it would do to them? To switch to STANDARD during a recession Hmmmmmmmmm. I am already paying out the wazooo for everything else and now to have to burn gas to travel three times as far to see a Dr. is just STUPID!!!!!!!

WHERE IS OUR VOICE WHEN THESE CONTRACTS ARE SUBMITTED

WE SHOULD GET TO VOTE ON WHO SERVICES OUR AREAS!!!!!!!

So what about the dental program if you do not have Prime? You have to have Prime to get the coverage so I assume governmental costs will also be reduced by eliminating Prime, right?

I have been dropped by two PCMs because of paperwork problems with Tricare and I have to drive 60+ miles to even get a PCM because doctors are fed up with the system.

Now this!! Slowly cutoff the source and you force folks like me to pay even higher costs to survive.

Healthnet; GOOD RIDANCE!! I Moved to Chicago in 2007 from Tacoma, WA. Moving to Chicago meant moving to the North Region (what a mess). I had to enroll myself into the North Region three times since the enrollment department continued to lose my application. When my wife arrived to join me in June of 2008; I had to enroll her twice since the North Region also had a difficult time not misplacing her application. When the north region finally did get around to process our applications, they did so months after we originally submitted our applications and dated the applications on the date they processed the applications instead of using the date that they were actually submitted.
Due to the north regions failure to correctly date the applications, I have been receiving medical bills from my providers.

My wife found a local Tricare provider on their website. After using this provider for several months, we began receiving more medical bills because the north region said we were using an unauthorized provider. After contacting the north region they informed me that I was previously sent a letter informing me that a provider had been assigned to me. I told them I had never received any notification. The north region rep informed met tha alot of the mail they had sent to me was returned to them even after I had notified the north region twice of my address.

I contacted a Tricare advocate at Great Lakes Naval Station who has been trying to help me decipher all of these bill being sent by tricare. It was through the advocate I found out that the provider the north region had assigned me was in Indianapolis Indiana a 3three hour drive from my home. Last week the advocate also informed me that the north region is going to turn me over to a collection agency. The north region seem to have trouble communicating with me and informing me of anything.

I have contacted the north region more times than I care to remember and have spoken to seveal of their representatives and supervisors. Most of the time they have no idea of how to answer my questions and finally tell me that whatever my problem is; tricare policy is what it is. Every north region representative I have spoken to have given me a different answer to my questions and the answers are usually given to me to get me off the phone. Those who said they didn't know the answer to my question promised to call me back and I have yet to receive a call from any of them including the so called supervisors. I have asked several time for the name of the president of CEO of Healthnet and everyone of the healhnet employees I have spoken to tell me they have no idea.

Healthnet is pathetic. Doctors complain that they are paid late, and on July 13, 2009 Ijust received a bill for charges for services I received on October 23, 2008. When I inquired about these charges; once again I am given 20 different answers.

We military folks have made a lot of personal sacrifices to serve our country; I have reminded these healthnet employees on several occasions that we deserve better service from them than they are willing or not capable of providing. If service members were as incompetent as healthnet is we Americans would be speaking Russian by now.

I pray that the new provider gives better service than what we have had to suffer through with healthnet. I will be contacting my state representatives on this matter since I have been complaining on deaf ears that could care less about the service they provide and is only concerned with the mult-million dollar contract which they do not deserve!

Thank you for ridding us of this incompetent, non caring, disorganized so-called provider.

Farewell and GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!

You just wait until you see what this obama administration is going to do with our so called medical care system....think they'll only tax millionaires? We retired service members are far from that catagory, but, when this so called national health care reform program hits....we'll really get screwed...just wait and see! Thanks to all of you acorn voters!

I don't know about United which would effect the region I'm in but I do recall having AETNA a long time ago and they were a miserable lot to deal with. Sometimes the cheapest isn't the best way to go; one gets what they pay for. They probably undercut Triwest and Humana so much because they aren't going to do near what they do in services.