With the exception of Sarah, we've all had bad TRICARE experiences, right? :)
I know I've had my fair share of nightmares, although I'm not convinced they were necessarily TRICARE's fault.
Before I married Scout, I had my own "good" insurance, but I still had an overbooked doctor, long waits in the lobby, and even longer waits in the pharmacy line. But on top of it all, I also had co-payments (and worried about my financial obligations should I ever need an ambulance ride or a round of chemotherapy).
With the birth of my niece (born today, 11 pounds, 3 ounces!) my sister and I have been discussing the costs involved with having a baby outside of the military. I was SHOCKED to find out that her and her husband are paying more in medical costs to HAVE their child than Scout and I paid to ADOPT ours. And they have "good" insurance.
It got me thinking about how much extra money we would have paid had
Tucker not been born to a soldier. We would have been responsible for
her medical costs, on top of all the lawyer fees and court costs. Would
we have paid it? Absolutely. But how awesome is it that we don't have
to, all because of a little thing called TRICARE?
I think that no matter who provides the medical insurance, there are
too many patients and not enough doctors. There will always be annoying
receptionists, lame paperwork to fill out, crowded waiting rooms, and
long pharmacy lines.
So TRICARE isn't immune from the irritating circumstances that all insurance providers (and patients) face. But doesn't it feel good to know that we will
never pay a dime for the care that we receive?
And I realized that I never worry about how I we will pay our medical
costs should we get cancer or get in a terrible car accident. Those are
not fun things to think about, but at least our insurance is taking
away a huge portion of potential worry - we won't have to decide between putting
food on the table and having a tumor removed. And I love
knowing that.
