Right Wing Militias on the Rise

[Kelly the Dog]

Yeah, it's so good that Congress took away private employers ability to pay for the supplement to it in an attempt to get people who have EARNED the benefit to stop using it.

 

Problems:

 

1. Most good doctors won't accept it and the number of people who're eligible are growing at a rate that outpaces new offices.

2. Paperwork is an absolute nightmare. We have all the same BS that the civilian providers deal with, plus the government crap. Try getting a referral authorization. Then try getting it paid for in anything that resembles a timely manner.

3. Reimbursement is ridiculously slow. Beyond ridiculous, really.

4. The reimbursement rates are artificially low. Many times that means you don't get to see a quality doctor.

 

I'm not saying the same things don't exist in the civilian world. TriCare has many of the same problems with the added "benefit" of the Washington bureaucracy. It's not "good" by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think the Private Sector is significantly better, though I though Kaiser Permanente (via Champus Prime) was excellent when we were in California (that could have changed in the 15 years since we left.

Fair enough, and now I know more about it. I did look up a bunch of things about it, including what the military said, what the industry said, and what people who have it said. Most people seem to be quite happy with it overall. The items you listed were the same ones a lot of others listed, so I assume them to be true. They do seem very similar to private insurers problems, but I didnt find any horror stories with it like you usually find with all kinds of private insurers (I'm sure they exist I just didnt see any).

 

FWIW, and this is just a personal thing, I don't trust hardly any comment from anyone about "the best doctors". I have spent my entire life hearing pretty much everyone that goes to doctors saying "this guy is the best" or this one "is one of the very best" or "he's supposed to be the best" and just as many horror stories with doctors who are supposed to be the best. I know there are metrics and I know there are better doctors than others at every level in every city, I just don't believe "the best" or "the worst" or "they only get the best doctors" or "we can't find a good doctor", it all seems anecdotal or unmeasurable. It surely shouldn't be based on how much they charge.

[Alaska Darin]

Fair enough, and now I know more about it. I did look up a bunch of things about it, including what the military said, what the industry said, and what people who have it said. Most people seem to be quite happy with it overall. The items you listed were the same ones a lot of others listed, so I assume them to be true. They do seem very similar to private insurers problems, but I didnt find any horror stories with it like you usually find with all kinds of private insurers (I'm sure they exist I just didnt see any).

I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories but military people tend to not complain overtly about things. The media has to go look for them (like the dude who lost both his legs because the military doctor cut an artery while removing his gall bladder).

 

FWIW, and this is just a personal thing, I don't trust hardly any comment from anyone about "the best doctors". I have spent my entire life hearing pretty much everyone that goes to doctors saying "this guy is the best" or this one "is one of the very best" or "he's supposed to be the best" and just as many horror stories with doctors who are supposed to be the best. I know there are metrics and I know there are better doctors than others at every level in every city, I just don't believe "the best" or "the worst" or "they only get the best doctors" or "we can't find a good doctor", it all seems anecdotal or unmeasurable. It surely shouldn't be based on how much they charge.

It's not so much primary care as it is specialists. I get your point but for the most part the best specialists won't take TriCare. It is what it is.