WELL dont know if you know this but if the dr they put the refferal in is 40 miles or 60 minuets away you can call tricare and tell them this and they will reinburust some of your travel expenses. honestly i would be thrilled if i could have a dr that could do the surgey that was only 50 miles away. my dr is 161 miles and 3 1/2 hrs away...

Well, I have decided once they process my refferal, I am going to see if there is someone closer, I mean geez I am 4 miles from the base. You would think in a military area more doctors would take Tricare. I don't think the Navy Relief Society will help, as we make combined more than $60K a year. My hubby is retired Navy, but also works. As far as taking my son with me, the night they have this required attending seminar is a Wednesday, and that is a school night. That will not work either. I will also see if I can find out what part they are not going to cover. I mean if I have to use a doctor that is 53 miles away, why should I pay a program fee if I am not able to use it. If I remember correctly, I only had to pay $75 for hospital fees when my son was born. So now I am questioning everything and anything

lol

I am sorry to hear about that. The program fees are entirely up to the doctor. When I first tried to have the surgery in SC (before my husband got his orders). They had a 500 dollar program fee. I remember a man at the seminar asked what on earth was the program fee for. The head nurse said that it covered the nutritionist there and some other small thing; but mostly it was so people wouldn't back out at the last minute before surgery if they had their own money invested in it. They charged 250 dollars upfront and 250 when all your paper work went through. I thought that was bad until a lady in the group said that that was good because a popular WLS Dr. in Charleston SC charged 2000 dollars program fee. The doctor I am seeing now doesn't have a program fee.. it just depends on your doctor. I think it is unfair...I guess it is like that nurse said it mainly to make sure the people that are seeking the surgery don't back out at the last minute with their money involved. Still SUCKS LOL!!!!

I am Tricare Prime and it is a civilian doctor....I guess I better see if I can scrounge up the money. I have no one to borrow from, and I had ran into two years of bad luck which meant that I ended up filing for bankruptcy so a loan is out of the question. I do not have any credit cards either. this truly sucks....