DOD Places Burden on Pregnant Spouses

Military spouses have one of the toughest jobs there is, being a full-time homemaker, mother, re-location expert and stress counselor for their husbands. They also have to perform these duties alone because more often than not their husbands are deployed.

Yet, with all these hardships that military spouses face, the Department of Defense has decided to place another burden on our pregnant spouses. The DOD has recently reinstated its policy that all spouses must receive their maternity care from a military facility, provided it is within a "60-minute commute."

My wife and I recently found this out the hard way. My wife is pregnant, and she recently went to one of her regular maternity care appointments. About a week later we received a letter from Tri-West, a subsidiary of Tri-care, stating that we must now take care of all maternity needs at Travis Air Force Base. Ding Ding Ding Ding! Alarm bells went off in our heads! This is odd, we thought. We live in Alameda, Calif., which is exactly 51 miles from Travis AFB.

My wife and I started our quest to get to the bottom of this. After a few days and many phone calls, I finally got a call from Steve Cargill, Tri-West's Service Director for Northern California. He informed me that in fact, yes, this past August the DOD reinstated its policy that if spouses are within 60 minutes of a military medical facility they must receive their care there.

Here's the big problem: As I stated earlier, my wife and I live 51 miles from Travis Air Force Base. According to the DOD, that commute should only take us 55 minutes. If you've ever driven in the Bay Area, you know it has some of the worst traffic in the country! You certainly can't drive 51 miles to anywhere in the Bay Area in less than an hour! But the DOD calculates mileage and time estimates using a program called Microsoft MapPoint. I guess the Microsoft MapPoint folks did this drive at 3 a.m. and that's how they came up with this time estimate!

On Wednesday my wife had her first appointment at Travis Air Force Base. It took us 2 1/2 hours just to get there. Needless to say, we were not happy. Nor was our 19-month-old son who went with us. He chose to share his displeasure by screaming in my ear most of the drive. How I wish the DOD policy makers could have someone screaming in their ears for two hours, but alas knowing the DOD medical system it would probably fall on deaf ears.

When my wife and I arrived at Travis for her appointment, I dropped her off at the door so she could run in as we were running 15 minutes late. After calming down my irate son, we ventured into the David Grant Medical Facility on Travis to wait for my wife.

As we were sitting in the waiting room, another pregnant woman walked through the doors. "I'm here for my appointment," she announced. "Sorry I'm late, but I was stuck in traffic for two hours trying to get here," she said. "Well, sorry, your doctor went home a half -hour ago. You'll have to reschedule," said the receptionist. The women who missed her appointment due to being stuck in traffic burst into tears. After having just experienced that horrible commute my heart went out to her.

Our spouses deserve better than this. Being pregnant should be a time of celebration with dreams and hopes for the future. Being pregnant should not have to be a time of battling evil HMOs and the DOD.

While I was witnessing the drama in the waiting room, my wife was receiving more bad news from her new doctor. The doctor explained to my wife that there is absolutely nothing we can do to get around this policy. She went on to tell my wife that she will also have to have her delivery at Travis.

Now exactly what kind of sense does that make? When my wife goes into labor I'm going to have to drive her two and a half hours to Travis! Looks like I might have to deliver the baby in the car during rush hour! Maybe we could name the new child Gridlock or I-80!

My wife's 45-minute appointment turned into a nearly 7-hour voyage. That is how long it took us roundtrip. I guess from now on I'll have to take a full day off of work every time my wife has an appointment, but I'm sure my supervisors won't mind!

In closing, I would just like to say that DOD policy makers needs to re-examine this health care policy and change it. I could understand if this was the early 1900s and the nearest doctor was 50-miles away, but this is the 21st century and we have every kind of doctor there is within a 10 mile radius here. It is just ridiculous to have to drive 51-miles each way for a doctor visit.

For all that they do for us, our spouses deserve better than this.