Health insurance

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cpw326

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Jun 19, 2022
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Hi! I am wondering if most parents keep their mids on their private health insurance policies? I was told that mids have to have special permission to see civilian doctors and my health insurance provider said it doesn't make sense to have 2 primary health insurances, yet I'm hesitant to take her off our policy. Any thoughts?! Thank you in advance!
 
We kept ours on. Same price for a family plan for us.

They CAN separate. Although, I’ve heard that’s a change of family situation, and they can be added back…check with your provider. But many advise/recommend to keep them on at least until they sign their 2/7.

Our youngest signed his 2/7 at the beginning of the this school year. We took him off. He was our youngest. Our oldest Mid stayed on the through commissioning (bc we still retained family plan bc of our youngest).

It’s kind of an individual decision. Depending on your insurance, and financial decisions.

BTW…the issue with using private insurance is that Tricare is now their primary insurance. So if your private insurance finds out, and you don’t have permission from Medical, you can be “on” for the charges from your private, secondary insurance.

Some civilian DR’s accept Tricare.
 
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cpw326 said:
Hi! I am wondering if most parents keep their mids on their private health insurance policies? I was told that mids have to have special permission to see civilian doctors and my health insurance provider said it doesn't make sense to have 2 primary health insurances, yet I'm hesitant to take her off our policy. Any thoughts?! Thank you in advance!
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See page 9 of the Permit To Report instructions, which are for Class of 2026, soon to be updated for 2027, but unlikely to change much.

Some keep their son or daughter on the family plan “just in case” of separation, at least for the first year, especially if it makes no difference to your premium. It all depends on your risk tolerance.
 
cpw326 said:
I was told that mids have to have special permission to see civilian doctors
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justdoit19 said:
BTW…the issue with using private insurance is that Tricare is now their primary insurance.
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The issue with using civilian doctors goes far beyond the insurance issues. Big Navy has a vested interest in Midshipman (and as Officer) health and well being, and with that comes a loss of privacy about what does and doesn't go into your body. All medical treatment is supposed to be cleared through Navy -- they will send you to civilian doctors if necessary, That was made pretty clear to us in Pensacola, where anything we did had to be approved by the Flight Surgeon, and even simple OTC medications had to be approved.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
The issue with using civilian doctors goes far beyond the insurance issues. Big Navy has a vested interest in Midshipman (and as Officer) health and well being, and with that comes a loss of privacy about what does and doesn't go into your body. All medical treatment is supposed to be cleared through Navy -- they will send you to civilian doctors if necessary, That was made pretty clear to us in Pensacola, where anything we did had to be approved by the Flight Surgeon, and even simple OTC medications had to be approved.
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The insurance piece (primary and secondary, and resulting issues with secondary not paying, and then being ‘on’ for it all) was explained to us directly from USNA Medical during a Parent Club Officer Conference meeting in 2021. We were asked to pass along that info in our state meetings. I was speaking to and explaining the insurance piece OP was asking about.

Great info, for a full picture!
 
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My son stayed on the family plan. Didn’t cost anything. Just in case. Never needed it.
 
Well, on one hand, you want them to have access to the best care possible, right? But then you hear all these different opinions, like how mids might need special permission or how having two primary insurances doesn't make sense.
 
If your private insurance is through an employer, you need to check your employee benefits handbook/rules/policies or with your HR. My employer explicitly excludes dependents who are covered as cadets or midshipman.
 
Still have our kid on ours, but he doesn't use it. Just goes to the brigade med unit when he needs something. Otherwise, he never goes to a doctor for anything. If something happens on leave, we'll see what he does.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
Still have our kid on ours, but he doesn't use it. Just goes to the brigade med unit when he needs something. Otherwise, he never goes to a doctor for anything. If something happens on leave, we'll see what he does.
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Urgent or emergency care on leave - if no military treatment facility in the area, he just shows his CAC card at a civilian facility, and TRICARE covers him. No co-pays.

He does have some pre-care notification actions to take for Urgent care.

Here’s how it works. This is from 2020, but it’s a good summary.
 
Lansysta said:
Well, on one hand, you want them to have access to the best care possible, right? But then you hear all these different opinions, like how mids might need special permission or how having two primary insurances doesn't make sense.
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Personally, I think it's worth digging deeper with your provider to see what options are available. After all, every situation is different, and it's important to find what works best for your family.
I've been giving some serious thought to life insurance lately. It's one of those things you hope you never need, but having that extra protection just feels like the responsible thing to do, you know? If you're curious, I came across this link purecover.co.uk that has some helpful info on life insurance
 
Submitted request for a spam insurance quote.

(edit to add- A1Janitor, this "Lansysta" was one of those 1st post likely AI users who I questioned but didnt want to call out. I guess they were on a 2 week timer before spamming.)
 
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Kept ours on insurance and dental. It was very hard to schedule teeth cleaning on base. He had his teeth cleaned every 6 months (more or less) when he came home. When he graduates, he won't be on any of our plans.
 
Kept my Cadet on our policy at least the first year. I can’t remember when I took him off. It was mostly for the purpose of continuity of coverage in the event he were to separate for some unknown reason
Looking back, I’m thinking our private insurance may not have covered anything for him once they found out he had Tricare. It was a minimal expense to do it in our case, but gave us some peace of mind (even if it was a false sense).
I learned Tricare would cover most anything (definitely in an emergency situation) anywhere, but as mentioned there is a “process “ to follow for notification and approval.
Also if there were to be a desire or need to have a procedure done that Tricare wouldn’t cover but private insurance would, there still needs to be approval by military authorities.

Something to remember going forward for those who serve….
 
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