Tri-Care Prime vs Standard

We were on Prime before we sold the sticks. After that it became impossible to work through the Prime gatekeeper.
Standard has worked well for us. Yes, it has the potential for a larger co-pay share but because we have suffered from chronic good health, we have come out ahead each year.
Our primary care provider is the Lebanon PA VA and we arrange our travels to be there each May for our medical week. VA provides our meds and they are all sent to our remailing service in South Dakota where we have given them a Power of Attorney to sign for our registered or certified mail. They forward it to us. The fact that my meds are free since I am a 50+% service connected vet we would consider the Walmart option.

Briefly, I'd recommend Prime for stick owners and Standard for true fulltimers. Feel free to ignore or adopt any option and most importantly, have fun on the road.

See you down the road,
Glenn

We switched to Standard when we sold our home and became fulltimers. Primary reason was due to the difficulty we were told we would encounter when moving between the three HMO's regions of Tricare Prime (south, north & west). Our mailing address is in the south region but trying to get routine care such as bloodwork, required for some of the prescription meds, when we were out of the south region was difficult.

Larry:
Thank you for the valuable info concerning Tricare.
Carole and I are soon to retire and will be depending on Tricare S/E for our health care.
Do you have an opinion or recommendation regarding supplemental coverage (eg. MEDIPLUS from MOAA)?
We're unsure regarding the annual maximum out-of-pocket expense for the two of us under Tricare S/E.
Is the cost of supplemental insurance worth the cost?
We will have a separate cancer policy.
Thanks in advance for your help ... we really enjoy your newsletters and are very eager to join the fulltimer lifestyle.

Tom and Carole McClellan
Hernando, MS

harleydpop wrote:

Larry:
Thank you for the valuable info concerning Tricare.
Carole and I are soon to retire and will be depending on Tricare S/E for our health care.
Do you have an opinion or recommendation regarding supplemental coverage (eg. MEDIPLUS from MOAA)?
We're unsure regarding the annual maximum out-of-pocket expense for the two of us under Tricare S/E.
Is the cost of supplemental insurance worth the cost?
We will have a separate cancer policy.
Thanks in advance for your help ... we really enjoy your newsletters and are very eager to join the fulltimer lifestyle.

I don't have any advice on supplements, as I've never used one or checked into them. However, the maximum out of pocket for the two of you us $3000/year. This is the "catastrophic cap". However, there's been the usual rumors that this may go up to $4500/yr. Only you can decide if a supplement is worth the cost.

harleydpop wrote:

Larry:
Thank you for the valuable info concerning Tricare.
Carole and I are soon to retire and will be depending on Tricare S/E for our health care.
Do you have an opinion or recommendation regarding supplemental coverage (eg. MEDIPLUS from MOAA)?
We're unsure regarding the annual maximum out-of-pocket expense for the two of us under Tricare S/E.
Is the cost of supplemental insurance worth the cost?
We will have a separate cancer policy.
Thanks in advance for your help ... we really enjoy your newsletters and are very eager to join the fulltimer lifestyle.

Tom and Carole McClellan
Hernando, MS

We went through the same choices last year. I was loosing my civilian coverage and had to convert back to TriCare as my main insurer.

I had occasion to meet two (twins) retired AUS Colonels who had made retiree health care their pet issue after retirement. (found out some interesting "around the campfire" issues to discuss another time). Following the Colonels' suggestion we investigated (and discovered it to be cheaper and better for us) TriCare Standard and MOAA Medi-Plus.. the pair are cheaper than Prime and give us the choice of Docs, with out asking "mother may I?"

Works for us.. best of luck

We are on Tri-Care Prime, did help when I had problems with seizures while on the road in the Dakotas. I ended up only having to pay $30 and they sent a check for $250 and that was it. Bill was over $2000!!! for a three hour emergency room. I will stick with Prime