Plastic surgery and Tricare Prime

Hey everyone... I do not post on here often but.... my year is 11-3 and I am starting to look at plastic surgery. I need the whole nine yards... breast lift.. thight lift and errrr butt lift and my arms..errrr Any help would be GREAT!!!!! Thanks much Denise in Hanover, MD

Hi Denise, I believe that Tricare will only pay for the tummy tuck. I don't know if you are under the John's hopkins family plan. We are not under that right now. We are at Kimbrough Army Clinic at Fort Meade. I had my surgery done at Walter Reed in DC. I know that is quite a ways from you. However, one of the ladies in our support group had breast implants done at Walter Reed in June for $1000. They will also do other surgeries if you are willing to pay for them. They are much cheaper than other hopsitals/programs. It might be worth a call to Tricare to see if you can attempt to go to Walter Reed. There is a lady at Fort Meade who I talked to just before I had my surgery. She said that she eventually got Tricare to pay for her arms because she complained alot about the skin chafing and hurting her all the time. I want to say that another lady got Tricare to pay for her thighs because she had pictures of the skin breaking open and bleeding from rubbing and being so loose and flabby. Maybe if you post on the main message board some others can tell fo their experiences. Let me know how things go. I'll be looking for plastics sometime next summer/fall. Hugs, Robin

Good luck with this...I'm in the process of fighting the Army clinic here to even send my request to tricare! My pcp sent a referal for evaluation and treatment for me to see a plastic surgeon. I was approved for that visit...saw the plastic surgeon and then he sent requests to tricare. Apparently there's a "middle man" between the pcp and tricare...called a referral management office. This person wrote underneath my pcp's request EVAL AUTHORIZED ONLY so while I was allowed to see the surgeon and he agreed it was needed the referral manaement officer refused to put treat on it so Tricare can't even process the request. When I asked if that meant Tricare denied it I was told NO by Tricare, it couldn't be approved OR denied...it just wasn't processed because of the EVAL ONLY part. I went to the referral managment office and spoke to the woman in charge...she said she wasn't going to put treat on there because she considers it cosmetic. Mind you this was w/o even seeing my medical records or the plastic surgeons records & pictures. I had those faxed to her last week as well as parts of my medical records. She told me she had to call Tricare and would get back to me. I just don't understand how people don't see this as medically needed!?!? I've lost over 130lbs...i have skin EVERYWHERE! Trying to exercise it bounces and causes pain...rashes and skin yeast infections...going from a 44DD to a 36B causes major pain and pulling on skin and muscles. I just wish more people understood cosmtic may be one of the side bonuses of plastic surgery but the medical part is the biggest part of it Good luck and let me know how things go Cathy

Cathy, Wow, I hope that you can get them to work this out and get your plastics done. It would seem to me that your doctor and surgeon should be the ones deciding whether or not the procedure is medically necessary, not some clerk in the referral management office. Yep, tricare is quite frustrating some times! Congrats on your weight loss. That's awsome. Hugs, Robin