Tricare vs Medical insurance

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Banshee

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
I am getting ready to retire on 19 FEB 2023. Then shortly thereafter, retire from my MILTECH career.
I have been a full time MILTECH(dual status with Army Reserves) since 17 SEP 2007. I bought back 14.5 years, which gives me a total over 30 years. Service comp date is APR 1991.
Currently, I am ineligible to get Tricare because I have insurance through the Federal Government(Currently BC/BS).

To start, I do not know how good Tricare is these days. When I retire on the Civilian side, if I want to be able to keep insurance, I will have to continue to do so. From my understanding, if I cancel the insurance at anytime, I can't start it back up. When retired, I am unsure if I can pay for the Civilian insurance, and also get Tricare. While working, no one is eligible for Tricare, even if you don't get it from the Federal Governments available plans. Does this change after a medical retirement?
If Tricare is better than what I have now, I would prefer it, but I am not sure I have a choice. Even if I should get to 100% VA, not sure if I get a choice. If for some reason Tricare doesn't pay everything, having a secondary insurance could pay the rest? Or, maybe the secondary pays first, and Tricare pays the rest? For instance, some of my Asthma medicine has a $60 or $80 co-pay, would the secondary pay for most of it, then tricare picks up the copay?

DOD: 80%(MAX 75%)
VA: 90%(70% CR) (still have two disabilities pending a rating)
Years: 36 years military(7002 points, which is 19.5 years AFS) 30 years for MILTECH(DOD)

I hope that someone had gone through this at one time that could help me out. If no one has experience with this, do you know the regulation that covers it?

Thanks for reading!
Greg
 
Yes. As a reservist you cannot have federal insurance options and take TRICARE reserve select. Tricare from medboard is different and you are able to take that. I too have bcbs and TRICARE I’d take over it any day. Tricare would be your primary and Va would be secondary. In 2030 you could have TRICARE reserve select as a technician. See below

TRICARE Reserve Select Access Starting in 2030

The Issue National Guard servicemembers can face unique challenges in obtaining health care access or ensuring c
www.ngaus.org www.ngaus.org
 
So, I am not the only one in this boat. I prefer not paying $130 each pay period also. I haven't been on Tricare since the early 2000's, so I assumed, or at least hope they take better care of us military personnel.
I prefer civilian doctors as opposed the the VA doctors. I have appointments coming up and looking to see if they would use VA for payments and such. I believe they said that VA is written under Humana? Is tricare under the same umbrella? Sometimes everything seems so convoluted, and with anxiety, you can't think straight.
In 2030, I will be 62, so I will be well retired by then. Maybe things will be more straightforward for future generations so they wont have to experience the confusion that the ones that came before us had to endure.
So, I might be able to get tricare because of my disabilities, and won't be a DOD employee anymore.
What does everyone think of tricare these days? Better medical and prescription coverage, low co-pays...compared to standard DOD plans? I haven't changed my DOD plan in 6 years, I just let it ride. I think there was 12-15 different plans to choose from, but not for sure on that number.

I appreciate the time you take for this, and also your insight!
Greg
 
Banshee said:
So, I am not the only one in this boat. I prefer not paying $130 each pay period also. I haven't been on Tricare since the early 2000's, so I assumed, or at least hope they take better care of us military personnel.
I prefer civilian doctors as opposed the the VA doctors. I have appointments coming up and looking to see if they would use VA for payments and such. I believe they said that VA is written under Humana? Is tricare under the same umbrella? Sometimes everything seems so convoluted, and with anxiety, you can't think straight.
In 2030, I will be 62, so I will be well retired by then. Maybe things will be more straightforward for future generations so they wont have to experience the confusion that the ones that came before us had to endure.
So, I might be able to get tricare because of my disabilities, and won't be a DOD employee anymore.
What does everyone think of tricare these days? Better medical and prescription coverage, low co-pays...compared to standard DOD plans? I haven't changed my DOD plan in 6 years, I just let it ride. I think there was 12-15 different plans to choose from, but not for sure on that number.

I appreciate the time you take for this, and also your insight!
Greg
Click to expand...
I believe the med TRICARE is 600 a year for select (pick your own civilian providers) and prime is free, if medically retired. Both rates are including family. I’ve had both TRICARE and bcbs and I would give up my bcbs in a heartbeat to go back. Everything is easier with TRICARE. The dental and vision are terrible, but the health coverage is great.
 
Great info! Thank you!
I am enrolled in FEDVIP for about $20 a pay period, so I guess it would be wise to keep that. I don't wear glasses yet, but I'm getting older and probably have to get them in a few years.
Even doing dental every year along with my PHA, they hardly do any dental work. I have to do that on my own civilian dentist. I have seen some posts asking about dental along with health care, but that was before I went through the IDES process. Now that I am getting out, I am going to have to start writing stuff down. My memory sucks and I forget the simplest things. Iv'e been going to counseling going on 4 years now, and I think they do tricare and VA too. So that is a step in the right direction.
Thank you again!
 
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