DS incurred hernia at Ranger Challange...

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sheriff3

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DS was injured at Ranger Challenge this last weekend. Groin pain , went to school clinic who referred him to surgeon. Surgeon confirmed hernia and wants to do outpatient surgery next week. DS has student gold health plan and is covered on mine as well. Questions....

1) I believe this to be a very minor procedure so I am guessing it will not effect his commissioning. Dr. said he would be limited for 2 weeks and then back to full duty.
2) He has informed cadre so we will see what they say.
3) Since this happened as a result of Ranger Challenge will the Gov't pick up the tab?

Thanks.
 
sheriff3 said:
DS was injured at Ranger Challenge this last weekend. Groin pain , went to school clinic who referred him to surgeon. Surgeon confirmed hernia and wants to do outpatient surgery next week. DS has student gold health plan and is covered on mine as well. Questions....

1) I believe this to be a very minor procedure so I am guessing it will not effect his commissioning. Dr. said he would be limited for 2 weeks and then back to full duty.
2) He has informed cadre so we will see what they say.
3) Since this happened as a result of Ranger Challenge will the Gov't pick up the tab?

Thanks.
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Regarding #3. They will pick up the tab if there is a Federal Worker Compensation Case Number approved and assigned. This requires a Line of Duty investigation by someone in the ROTC cadre sent to Workers Compensation and a CA Form (workers compensation) submitted. ROTC is Workers Compensation District 25. Many Dr's do not accept Federal Workers Compensation for coverage.

Your insurance or his school insurance may deny coverage as the injury occurred during ROTC training. If the question is never asked as to how the injury occurred they may cover it.
 
1) Only out for two weeks? That's pretty fast. When I had my hernia operation, I was told no extreme physical activity and no lifting more than 10 lbs for (6) weeks.
 
sheriff3 said:
DS was injured at Ranger Challenge this last weekend. Groin pain , went to school clinic who referred him to surgeon. Surgeon confirmed hernia and wants to do outpatient surgery next week. DS has student gold health plan and is covered on mine as well. Questions....

1) I believe this to be a very minor procedure so I am guessing it will not effect his commissioning. Dr. said he would be limited for 2 weeks and then back to full duty.
2) He has informed cadre so we will see what they say.
3) Since this happened as a result of Ranger Challenge will the Gov't pick up the tab?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It won't affect commissioning as long as he recovers normally, I know multiple people that had hernia surgery while in ROTC with no issues. Also agree that 2 weeks is really short for recovery, I would plan on atleast 6-8 weeks. Recovery can be painful.

Info about the govt picking up the tab is pretty accurate. I had a surgery paid for by Uncle Sam while in ROTC and the process for getting things approved can be painful, but you can definitely go that route. I had no problems finding doctors that accepted federal workers comp but that could vary by location.
 
This is how I look at it.... Army gave DS a $100k scholarship when you factor in the stipend, we will gladly pick up the $900 tab.
 
sheriff3 said:
This is how I look at it.... Army gave DS a $100k scholarship when you factor in the stipend, we will gladly pick up the $900 tab.
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Have to agree with you if the total cost without insurance is truly $900. I'm not sure I've ever seen a surgery, even outpatient, at $900 though.

Ours was $30K+ with emergency room, outpatient surgery, anesthesia, and physical therapy. Our insurance quickly denied coverage but workers compensation paid all the bills or they were written off by the doctors and hospital. Many, many hours of phone calls for authorizations for care, payments to providers, and redirecting billing agencies to the workers compensation system.
 
Just so your son is aware, a history of a hernia disqualifies him from some types of specialized training in the future. He should, by all means, have the surgery and address the medical issue first. But, he should also know how the choices he makes will effect him downstream.
 
sheriff3 said:
This is how I look at it.... Army gave DS a $100k scholarship when you factor in the stipend, we will gladly pick up the $900 tab.
Click to expand...

If your insurance covers most of the costs and you don't pay too much, it's a better option than dealing with the workers comp issue. It was worth it in my case due to the surgery I had and the months of physical therapy that came with it.

Edit: Just saw AROTC Parent's post. Agree with it all, it's a diffult, yet typical, government process to fight with workers comp.
 
Jcc123 said:
Just so your son is aware, a history of a hernia disqualifies him from some types of specialized training in the future. He should, by all means, have the surgery and address the medical issue first. But, he should also know how the choices he makes will effect him downstream.
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Just out of curiosity what training does it disqualify one from? I've never had a hernia, but have friends in the Army that have.
 
Initial acceptance into ABN, Ranger and RSLC. Also SERE, MFF and CDQC. It's suppedly not waiverable for Mff and CDQC. Not 100% on the others.
 
Jcc123 said:
Initial acceptance into ABN, Ranger and RSLC. Also SERE, MFF and CDQC. It's suppedly not waiverable for Mff and CDQC. Not 100% on the others.
Click to expand...

Ahh, gotcha. I can see that, I'm sure MFF and CDQC can aggravate those issues. It must be waiverable for ABN and Ranger, because one of the guys I know that had hernias went to both after commissioning. I've never looked into since I've never had on
 
A cadet in my unit got a hernia from ranger challenge his MSI year. He is now an MSIV has gone to airborne and will be commissioning in May. I don't know about the tab, but in terms of army and training, he should be fine.
 
AROTC Parent said:
Have to agree with you if the total cost without insurance is truly $900. I'm not sure I've ever seen a surgery, even outpatient, at $900 though.
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All depends on the insurance. my wife works for a biotech company and they have a stellar PPO plan. I was riding dirt bike and crashed bad in July 2009. I broke my femur, tore my ACL, LCL, MCL and meniscus. The initial surgery to put a plate on my femur and fix everything but my ACL and then spend (4) days in the hospital cost me a whopping $50 out of pocket. yes, FIFTY dollars. Three months later I had out-patient ACL surgery and didn't pay a dime.
 
k2rider said:
All depends on the insurance. my wife works for a biotech company and they have a stellar PPO plan. I was riding dirt bike and crashed bad in July 2009. I broke my femur, tore my ACL, LCL, MCL and meniscus. The initial surgery to put a plate on my femur and fix everything but my ACL and then spend (4) days in the hospital cost me a whopping $50 out of pocket. yes, FIFTY dollars. Three months later I had out-patient ACL surgery and didn't pay a dime.
Click to expand...

Agreed that with good insurance the costs are minimal - Unless insurance denies coverage as the injury occurred during military training. Our only cost was time and travel expenses with workers compensation picking up the medical tab. If denied coverage by parents insurance they might be able to submit the LOD and CA-1 for workers compensation.
 
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