Medical Coverage - Family Policy

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franknd

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I have two on active duty now, one at West Point and one in the Regular Army (commissioned through ROTC). What do people do in this circumstance regarding existing family-based medical coverage since they are both covered through Tricare? Drop them from family policy or leave them on until they age out, or some other option?
 
Carrying a commissioned officer on your family plan? why would you do that? They are required to use military medical with zero copay.
We did not carry my son on our insurance when he went to USNA as he was on Tricare. If he had left USNA, it would have been considered
a qualifying event to get him back onto our plan.
 
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Is there a cost difference in your family plan? For us, there was no difference in premium.

The academies suggested keeping them, but that guidance predated the friendlier ACA rules of life events and preexisting conditions.
 
justme said:
Is there a cost difference in your family plan? For us, there was no difference in premium.

The academies suggested keeping them, but that guidance predated the friendlier ACA rules of life events and preexisting conditions.
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same here, we also keep our cadet in our plan (no additional premium cost) just in case he is kicked out for poor performance or any other reasons. Also he can do his annual physical (no copay) when he is at home.
 
franknd said:
I have two on active duty now, one at West Point and one in the Regular Army (commissioned through ROTC). What do people do in this circumstance regarding existing family-based medical coverage since they are both covered through Tricare? Drop them from family policy or leave them on until they age out, or some other option?
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It’s a personal situation choice, IMO. If there isn’t any additional OOP cost to you, vs paying extra to have them on, kind of thing.

And we personally waited until our youngest signed his 2/7 commitment. Then dropped both that we’re still on our policy.

It was oddly almost a hard thing to do! It confirmed our ACTUAL place in life (full empty nesters, inching towards the next phase of our own lives), seemed so permanent, and wasn’t the status quo of the last 25 yrs.

Congrats on getting your kids to full adulthood, earning incomes with full benefits 😂
 
Drop them both. They have health insurance through TRICARE and the MHS. You are throwing good money down the drain covering them.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Carrying a commissioned officer on your family plan? why would you do that? They are required to use military medical with zero copay.
We did not carry my son on our insurance when he went to USNA as he was on Tricare. If he had left USNA, it would have been considered
a qualifying event to get him back onto our plan.
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DrMom said:
Drop them both. They have health insurance through TRICARE and the MHS. You are throwing good money down the drain covering them.
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I should have clarified, there is no extra cost, so it's not a question of wasting money. Was wondering if there was some sort of benefit (perhaps not widely known) to doing so.
 
I agree with DrMom about not wasting money nor any additional monetary benefit, but one potential benefit to DS is his ability to get another medical opinion at no additional expense (whether before or after Tricare opinion is DS's call). If there is no additional expense, why not keep the free option for DS?
 
LOVEtheUSA said:
I agree with DrMom about not wasting money nor any additional monetary benefit, but one potential benefit to DS is his ability to get another medical opinion at no additional expense (whether before or after Tricare opinion is DS's call). If there is no additional expense, why not keep the free option for DS?
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For Service Academies, while we're calling it Tricare, it is actually the military medical system and in my experience, getting a second opinion was not difficult for things beyond slam dunk type stuff. There is absolutely no expense.
 
I agree, but it may be helpful to go the civilian route in cases where the military medical system may be overwhelmed.

franknd - please read the thread "My story with West Point and the Army" on the Academy/Military News forum. Sounds like OP could have benefited from a free option like your DS has. Unclear if the outcome would have been any different, but the journey may have been less frustrating in OPs situation if the civilian option could have accommodated the schedule differently.

FWIW, I do believe it could have easily read the other way - where someone had a poor civilian medical experience and a great military medical experience. Our 2 DS's have had perfect experiences with the military medical system and both still remain on our family policy. My point is that free options are a great thing that should not be discarded without thought.
 
LOVEtheUSA said:
I agree, but it may be helpful to go the civilian route in cases where the military medical system may be overwhelmed.

franknd - please read the thread "My story with West Point and the Army" on the Academy/Military News forum. Sounds like OP could have benefited from a free option like your DS has. Unclear if the outcome would have been any different, but the journey may have been less frustrating in OPs situation if the civilian option could have accommodated the schedule differently.

FWIW, I do believe it could have easily read the other way - where someone had a poor civilian medical experience and a great military medical experience. Our 2 DS's have had perfect experiences with the military medical system and both still remain on our family policy. My point is that free options are a great thing that should not be discarded without thought.
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I have no idea, but does one actually have the OPTION to use private insurance? If covered by TriCare?

I know in a State Parent Officers briefing by BMU several years ago, they explained that a person (Midshipman, in this case), could actually end up denied payment because of the primary and secondary insurance structure. TRICARE is primary, and if a person uses private, tie are *can* refuse payment as they didn’t give a referral for care, and the private *could* refuse payment as they are secondary. And if they didn’t approve the care, well……you can see it *could* get messy.

Nothing is ever a problem, unless it is as problem.

But if one holds private and Tricare, one is primary and one is secondary….whatever that means legally and logistically. I’m not an expert.
 
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