Re: For Veterans and Military personnel only.
Both my sons were born in civilian hospitals. Comparing our stories with the ones of women who have delivered at the military hospital here (Okinawa) is like night and day. I think you are the first person I have run across that has had good words to say about TRICARE provision for dependents.
My first son was born in Tripler, in Oahu. Some refer to the place as "Crippler". I had zero problems and got a lot of care. In fact, when it looked like there was a problem, there were 4 doctors and a couple of nurses in there trying to make sure it was taken care of right. The room I was put in was awesome, even a place for my husband to stay with me and our son. So much help. My second son was born in a civilian hospital. The room was huge but it was unnecessarily so. They didn't let fathers actually stay with the mothers after the baby was born. And they had no idea about their patients. They gave out bags for going home to help new moms, mine was in Spanish. I'm about as white as a person can get.
Yeah. And in order to do that, they need you not to sue the bejeezus out of them. Government medicine wants to get promoted and get off early, and in order to do that they need to shuffle you out the door and then manage to not actually blatantly kill too many people.
I've experienced both, and it not that different. In fact, I stayed a couple days longer in Tripler than I did the civilian hospital after the birth, eventhough it was just for observation because of my blood condition.
Our "docs" as in our Corpsmen are mostly awesome. I've had docs I'd trust to pull me out and put me back together with no problem, and I've seen docs save lives. It's the medical
system that suffers from all the usual quality and service problems associated with government provision of goods. And saying "it works for the majority of people"... defining 'work' how? Most of them don't die of some horrid disease on an annual basis?
Like I said, I think you're the first I've heard talking about how good it was for dependents.
And I'm telling you I don't see it, at least not more than what I have seen in a civilian hospital/clinic. I have had physical therapy given to me for a foot problem by the Navy. Yet one of my sisters was told by a doctor at a civilian hospital that they couldn't do jack for her sprained/fractured ankle, not even to wrap it up.
From everything I have experienced and heard, the military medical works just as well as civilian medical, particularly when we are talking stateside medical.
I live much better housing than the equivalent government housing for a member of my rank. The reason I do is because the military gives me BAH to go find a better option on my own, and the private market is better than the government at providing higher quality goods at a lower cost. We should adopt a similar reform to Indiana's, and offer our military an HSA option, so they can get an insurance program that best suits and responds to them.
And see, I've never had a better place to live in in my life compared to the military housing I live in now. It is great. Completely worth it. And I have lived in places on my own BAH.
Oh, and military housing is run by civilians, not military. The civilians have to follow certain rules, but they are certainly not skimpimg, at least not in San Diego, on the housing.
TRICARE is an insurance option, particularly for dependents. You can choose civilian doctors. They just have to accept TRICARE. Of course, it may cost a little more. For military, it just isn't practical since we have more rules due to our health being a high consideration for the military. (And I know technically I fall under the civilian coverage, I still have to inform my reserve chain of command of any health problems and they have to get their information on it to determine if I am medically ready.)
