hello

I posted this on the main board a few weeks back but curious to see if any of you can help. I am a Marine wife with tricare prime. I live in Hawaii (oahu). Our MTF is Tripler Army Center. Tricare told me over the phone that I was qualified for gastric. I talked to many dr's before (when I was tricare standard), most here won't take tricare and the one that I found that does requires you to pay up front. Everyone (dr's) told me my best bet was to go back on prime and go to tripler. So I went back on prime, called Tripler's bariatric center and was told everything that I would need to do/go through and then told the process would take 9 months-2 years. I am so discouraged. We will only be here till next year (May or October), most likely be getting out due to high tenor (sp). Has anyone dealt with tripler, are there any other routes to go, any suggestions greatly appreciated. thanks, Shel

You might check with Erica or Lisa, I am civilian and just dating but they will be your best shot at help. Wish I could help more. Amy

Hey Shel, My best advice is to just try and go through it with the doc that accepts Prime. I know that it seems like it will take a long time, but maybe talk to them about speeding it up... The problem is that its at an MTF and as most of us know... the Military doesn't really feel the need to speed things up when it comes to paperwork, etc. Are there any other MTF's near you? Best case Scenerio... it takes 9 months (if you get all of the things on your end done quickly it may move even faster, then just pester them about it... keep on them and follow through) and you have the surgery in say Feb or March... well thats before your May/October deadline that you were talking about leaving in. So I would say that the best route is to do everything that you can to try and get it done quickly. If you have any other questions you can ask me, or any of the other wives in here cuz they all seem to be pretty good sources of information. Krissy