tricare copay

Hi all I was told by someone at Tricare that if surgery is done in civilian hosp. the cost is min of 25$ for 1st 24 hour period then 11$ a day and a 4 day stay would be 44$ total . it is like the 3rd day cost 8$ then 11 for forth day total 44 I assume ( and we all know what that gets us) that the cost would be same in a base hosp.

I am pre-op until Monday, but Tricare Prime is my secondary insurance. It's great insurance, but you MUST make sure you do every single thing exactly right. The full Tricare Handbook is online (www.tricare.osd.mil) You are basically right about the cost for Tricare Prime--$11/day with $25 minimum. If you are getting care outside a military treatment facility, you have to get a referral from your Tricare Primary Care Physician. It then goes through a review committee to decide if it is something that can/should be done at a military hospital. They have to decide on this within a week. Then Tricare will make an appointment for you with a surgeon in the field who is within their network. You can choose a surgeon yourself, even if he is out of network, but Tricare will only pay what they would pay a network physician. My advice is to work with the Tricare office as closely as possible, and in person as much as possible. It's good insurance, but I found it difficult to get anything done by phone. Their voice mail system is a real pain too! Write everything down that they tell you, including name of the person you speak to and the date and time you called. It was a bit more complicated for me because I have other insurance. Everything would have gone very smoothly if Tricare had been our only insurance. The best thing I did was when I went to the office and moved up from talking to the clerk to talking to whoever was in charge of referrals at Wright Patt. Good Luck! Nancy Schaffer

What they have told you about TriCare Cost is correct. I have the Prime coverage and pay quarterly. Right now they are my only insurance coverage. Good luck