Insurance gripe
'Scuse me, I'm just going to whine for a bit...
My husband is active duty military so our insurance is Tricare. Back when I started researching bariatric surgery (January 2011), the only surgeons at Walter Reed who were qualified to do bariatric surgery were deployed, so Tricare gave me approval to go to an outside civilian provider. I did all my pre-op prep both at Walter Reed and the outside provider. No problems. By the time I was ready for the surgery (February 2012), Walter Reed's Bariatric Surgery Center was back up and running, and Tricare gave me all kinds of grief. They even wanted me to do all the pre-op prep all over again at Walter Reed. I put my food down and gave them hell and they finally relented and approved my surgery with the outside provider in May 2012. I'm now just over 4 weeks post-op and all is well. I want to transfer all of my post-op care to Walter Reed because (1) Tricare will continue to give me grief if I keep trying to to go an outside provider while there is a perfectly good Bariatric Center at Walter Reed and (2) the outside provider is 1 hour from my house and Walter Reed is 5 minutes from my house.
Sooooo.....
I called Walter Reed this morning to make an appt to discuss my care, transfer my medical records, etc., and they inform me that they're not taking any patients who have had surgery at a non-military facility. WHAT??!!!??
I explained what's going on and while the woman on the phone acknowledged the irony of the situation, she said there's nothing she can do. I've spent the last 2 hours on the phone trying to figure this out. For now, Tricare will allow me to go to the outside provider for the next 90 days. In the meantime, I have to find someone with enough power to override this rule at Walter Reed and get me in. MEDCOM Commander? Surgeon General? President Obama? hmmmm....
I've you've read all this, thank you for indulging me. I feel better just getting it off my chest. :)
My husband is active duty military so our insurance is Tricare. Back when I started researching bariatric surgery (January 2011), the only surgeons at Walter Reed who were qualified to do bariatric surgery were deployed, so Tricare gave me approval to go to an outside civilian provider. I did all my pre-op prep both at Walter Reed and the outside provider. No problems. By the time I was ready for the surgery (February 2012), Walter Reed's Bariatric Surgery Center was back up and running, and Tricare gave me all kinds of grief. They even wanted me to do all the pre-op prep all over again at Walter Reed. I put my food down and gave them hell and they finally relented and approved my surgery with the outside provider in May 2012. I'm now just over 4 weeks post-op and all is well. I want to transfer all of my post-op care to Walter Reed because (1) Tricare will continue to give me grief if I keep trying to to go an outside provider while there is a perfectly good Bariatric Center at Walter Reed and (2) the outside provider is 1 hour from my house and Walter Reed is 5 minutes from my house.
Sooooo.....
I called Walter Reed this morning to make an appt to discuss my care, transfer my medical records, etc., and they inform me that they're not taking any patients who have had surgery at a non-military facility. WHAT??!!!??
I explained what's going on and while the woman on the phone acknowledged the irony of the situation, she said there's nothing she can do. I've spent the last 2 hours on the phone trying to figure this out. For now, Tricare will allow me to go to the outside provider for the next 90 days. In the meantime, I have to find someone with enough power to override this rule at Walter Reed and get me in. MEDCOM Commander? Surgeon General? President Obama? hmmmm....I've you've read all this, thank you for indulging me. I feel better just getting it off my chest. :)
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