Tricare

Hi K.,

I believe that if you are outside of a certain radius you can use civilian providers. First you need to talk to tricare to find out if you are outside of the area, they can also tell you providers that accept tricare near you.
I actually was just doing something similar today since we just PCS'd to Texas. I'm guessing you are in tricare south which is run by Humana Military. The phone number is 1-800-444-5445.
You can also look up a lot of this info online at www.humana-military.com. You can print out the health insurance cards there if you need a temporary one. I'm taking my daughter to an appointment today and printed one out with her new info.

I would talk to your Tricare office because I have heard of instances that if you live so many miles away (maybe 30 miles or something) from a military facility then you can get assigned to a civilian doctor closer to you. And then you may not have to struggle so much with getting Tricare to pay for services. I'm really not sure how it works but I would ask if this might be an option for you.

Yes, read the info brochures or online website there is lots of great info in them.

Non-military hospitals and doctors should take Tricare. Contact them before going to make sure you are eligible. You might have to contact the post faciility for a referral but it is worth it since you the little one to have a doctor close by. Ask me how I know? I am a retired military wife who uses the Tricare system but goes to the civilian providers. If you need to contact via email for more.

in short, yes non-military healthcare providers accept tricare. however, you should have been assigned a primary care doctor when your husband filled out the paperwork for tricare, so you should call and find out who that is, because if you were to go to a different provider tricare might not cover it. i'm sure you can call and have all your questions answered from tricare, they are usually pretty willing to help.
if you have tricare prime (usually what you have when you are active duty), then you have no co-pays whatsoever, except for prescriptions, which is only i think $3 generic and $9 name-brand. and on tricare prime, i've never had to deal with tricare not paying, the beauty of tricare prime is you just sit back and do nothing =) i must say that's one of the only good benefits of the military lol
PS welcome to the army!

Tricare has a list of hospitals/doctors that accept their insurance. You can get a list online. They have lists and forms, etc.
You should call Tricare and find out.
They are a little slow at paying sometimes, however, they are no worse than other insurance companies I've dealt with in the past.
My husband retired after 22 years in the Army (he went in at 17). ANyway... Good luck.

First of all Welcome to your new life as a military spouse. My husband is in the Navy and we've had to deal with this before. First find out if the hospital of choice takes Tricare, some do and some don't. Then you can choose between Tricare Standard, Prime, or Remote, they also offer USAAHealthcare. I would suggest going to Tricare's website and looking at which policy best fits your family's needs. But be prepared, because no matter which policy you choose you are always on the phone because they didn't pay something. Though you are in luck if you decide to have another child, Tricare is supposed to cover everthing "maternity". I was joking with a friend of mine that, that's all we are to the military are a bunch of breeders. I'm not trying to scare you, but I tend to feel like I'm always battling tricare to pay up. The other thing you can do is go into your local tricare office, should be in the military hospital, and talk to them about which plan and they also have a whole book filled with doctors who take tricare. Hopes this helps. If you have anymore questions please let me know I'll do my best to help you out.

I used to work at a doctor's office. It just depends on the doctor or hospital if they take it or not. It does not have to be military based. I think you just have to pay a percentage (20%).. You will just have to call the doctor's office to see if they accept it and have them verify your benefits..