Should Tricare start charging co-pay fees for visits?
One of the reasons that Tricare costs the government so much isn't the average Tricare user. The true inflation of Tricare costs to the government come from abuse the abuse of the generosity of the Tricare system by Families who use Tricare facilities at the first sign of a sniffle or the first cough. Personally, I abhore going to the doctor for anything and avoid it whenever possible, but I do know people that take their kids in to the doctor when they get a slight temperature.
I think that the DoD could save a significant amount of money in Tricare expenses by requiring a small co-pay fee for doctors vists - either routine, emergency or other. And by small, I mean around $20. This nominal amount wouldn't bring any significant income to the Tricare system - which it isn't designed to do - but would serve as a "monetary motivator" for people who think that the doctor is the only guy who can fix little Johnny's sniffles. If the over-users had to pay for that privelege, I think we would see a significant decrease in the frivilous use of limited Tricare resources and would help to focus Tricare resources on the actual health issues of the Servicememebers and Families.
I'm just curious as to what others might think about limited co-pays for Tricare use. Thoughts?
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I have been on Tricare since 1990, as an AGR I should have been on Tricare Prime Remote - but I stayed with Tricare Standard. The reason was so my family could keep going to our family doctor instead of going to one that was designated as a Tricare doctor. Tricare does not pay what the the hospitals, doctors, dentists, eye doctors, etc. bill - they pay only a vary small portion - if your lucky they write the rest off and you don't get stuck paying what Tricare wouldn't.
So I'm not sure where Tricare is costing so much. I know when it was Champus, they were very disorganized - and Tricare as a whole isn't much better. The time it takes them to pay what little they do pay - a lot of times the places would send me to collections because they didn't want to wait that long for their payment.
If Tricare was using military doctors for overseeing the claims - they would have lower costs - since military doctors are paid way less then corporate types.
Sir,
The only problem with that is the disproportionate price for all ranks, while an O4 could afford $20 a visit, a PFC with 3 kids could not most likely afford the luxury as it would become of taking each of his children for their shots, physicals for school, minor colds, etc., so many of them would be more susceptible to being sick because they junior enlisted could not afford the $60 per child for 3 visits per of these types of normal everyday occurrences.
One of the benefits of serving is the free medical for families, it wouldn't be beneficial for many to stay if they had to start paying for it in the end. That is one of the reasons why I miss Champus, when that was still in effect, the costs were never an issue like they are with Tricare, you never heard about the budget being eaten up by 50% for medical expenses with Champus, Tricare was another way for someone that was in the back pocket of some politician in the 90s that made a mint on selling the idea to the government and they have become just another money pit of an HMO as any others.
If the recommendation of $20 co-pays or any co-pay for services provided for AD and their dependents takes effect, you will lose a major portion of the force and also not have the strong recruitment again like the late 70s and early 80s were.
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