Tricare Select - no network providers available

[remoandiris]

Anyone used select with non-network providers?  Was it a PITA?  Was it expensive?  From what I've read, it could be both.

I know Select is supposed to mean I can use any doctor, more or less.  The place I'm spending the summer has no Tricare network doctors of any kind within an hour drive.  So I'm wondering what I'll have to deal with if I use a non-network doctor(s).

 

Thanks in advance.

[RV_]

We've done standard and now select for my wife until she turns 65 in May. I turn 67 in May. I used a Doc in Soldotna Alaska when I was bitten by a White Sock and swelled my arm tremendously. We also used VA and base hospitals and clinics. Back then we hardly went to the docs. With standard then we paid no enrollment fee if we did not see a doc in the fiscal year, $150.00 was the fee if we saw a doc just paid once. The catastrophic cap was and is $3k meaning you stop having co-pays after $3k in copays for the rest of the year. I never needed permission to see specialists etc, and that holds true to today for my wife. With TFL (Tricare for Life) we now pay $135 a month each! Before we paid $150 each once in a year! Now $270.00 a month!

Standard or Select was our choice. 

[DJW]

RV

You had to pay $150 if you saw a dog?  "Not me Dog"  What move is that line from?  Give you a hint, it stared Brad Pit.

Yes the fact that we are old and now get to pay $135 a month each under Medicare really sucks given that the VA provides all my medical needs and I have never spent a dime on Medicare going on 4 yeas come May when I turn 69,

 

Dennis

[NDBirdman]

2 hours ago, DJW said:

Yes the fact that we are old and now get to pay $135 a month each under Medicare really sucks given that the VA provides all my medical needs and I have never spent a dime on Medicare going on 4 yeas come May when I turn 69

That's where I will be shortly.  I pay $135/mo. for my wife, I'm not there yet.  This is seriously wrong, I call it what it is, goberment theft targeting vets.  It all amounts to pay us, no choice, don't care if you never need/want it or we will shaft your spouse.  Since we are being strong-armed to pay for it, I am seriously thinking about using medicare when I"m forced to pay for it and not use the VA.  I'm 100%, no way in heck I or anyone else should have to pay that.

[Ronbo]

I have Medicare and tricare prime. Not yet 65. My wife has tricare select. It is very hard finding a provider that takes tricare in Albuquerque. There are 2 major provider groups, both hospital based. They use hospital based billing, which increases the charges. After discussing with tricare, I found out that both hospital groups are capped on what they can charge. That limits my out of pocket expenses for the wife. Call tricare and discuss it with them. 

[remoandiris]

4 hours ago, Ronbo said:

 Call tricare and discuss it with them. 

Thanks, I did last week.  They provided me canned responses.  I was hoping to get some real-world experiences here. 

[RV_]

16 hours ago, DJW said:

RV

You had to pay $150 if you saw a dog?  "Not me Dog"  What move is that line from?  Give you a hint, it stared Brad Pit.

Yes the fact that we are old and now get to pay $135 a month each under Medicare really sucks given that the VA provides all my medical needs and I have never spent a dime on Medicare going on 4 yeas come May when I turn 69,

 

Dennis

Lol! Thanks Dennis, fixed it. But if you think about it, dog backwards is God, and I have met more than a few MDeitys.