Readers of Tom Philpott's Military Update column sound off.

Satisfied with Current TRICARE Contractors
Thank you for your article on TRICARE support contracts and how Aetna’s takeover of the North Region has been put on hold.

I have found the Health Net system to be highly effective in handling all my medical care claims. Their personnel consistently display the courtesy, knowledge and conflict-resolution skills that are the hallmark of a company committed to serving a wide range of beneficiaries.

It would be a great injustice to reward a company (Aetna) that has demonstrated an absence of integrity in the bidding process. That suggests erosion of ethical values, which would not enhance the safety and welfare of healthcare beneficiaries.

SUSAN A. ANDREWS
Commander, Nurse Corps, USN-Ret
Queensbury, N.Y.

 

I lived through the CHAMPUS days and they were the worst.  TRICARE solved all those problems.

FRANK MILOTTE
Chief Master Sergeant, USAF-Ret.
Via e-mail

 

The reneging on the long-held promise of "free medical care" will always be a hot button issue for us older military retirees. But my wife and I are very pleased with the current TRICARE South system. It has served us well these 12 years.

We are glad things will remain the same, at least through April 2011. Perhaps there is still a chance the current contracts could be extended indefinitely!

RON SLIGA
Chief Master Sergeant, USAF-Ret.
Via e-mail

 

I recently relocated to Peoria, Ill., area and contacted Health Net to find local health care providers for this part of the North Region. The closest doctor is more than 60 miles away, in Kewanee.  Another doctor I was referred to, in Washington Ill., wasn’t taking new patients.

Health Net services in California could not tell me if the doctors on their provider lists for this region were accepting Health Net. But their web site states that it had been updated as recently as Jan. 15, 2010.

I had no problems finding providers when I lived in Jacksonville, Fla. I don’t believe it was a good thing now to have paid for TRICARE Prime coverage six months in advance.

MARK DISKIN
USA-Ret.
Via e-mail

 

The military community is very mobile. This should be taken into account with regard to TRICARE contracts. It is ridiculous to divide them into regions, forcing beneficiaries to change enrollment moving to different parts of the country.

My husband has TRICARE Prime in California. Due to some special family circumstances, we spend considerable time in Maryland, with five to six trips there a year. During one such visit, my husband became ill. I called the military clinic where he normally is seen in California. It was closed but the voice message said to call TriWest for help with emergencies, which I did.

They said to take him to a doctor but wanted us to go to Walter Reed, more than an hour way or to a Virginia military hospital even farther away.

Because there was a doctor's office five miles away that took TRICARE Prime patients, I got my husband an appointment there that morning to see a nurse practitioner. He wasn’t feeling well enough to wait in hospital emergency room for who knows how long.

Though it was billed as an urgent care visit, TriWest refused to pay for it. I appealed the decision and they did pay. But we should not have to go through all of this if we get sick while traveling.

BILLIE WHITED
Via e-mail

 

A friend received a hysterectomy while on active duty. She told me that when she retired she became eligible for tax-free veterans compensation because her surgery occurred while she was on active duty. Can this really be the case? Does this mean that a male service member who receives a vasectomy on active duty also is eligible for VA compensation?

If this is indeed the case, as a taxpayer I have a big problem with that.

T. MURPHY
Niceville, Fla.

A hysterectomy performed while in service, or after leaving service for health conditions tied to service time, can qualify for a VA disability rating of 50 percent. That would be monthly compensation ranging from $770 up to $965, depending on family size and status.
A vasectomy, on the other hand, typically is a voluntary birth control method rather than a procedure deemed disabling or service-connected.
The VA will also award additional special compensation to a veteran who has suffered a service-connected loss, or loss of use, of one or both testicles or ovaries or other creative organs. But generally, elective surgery such as a vasectomy, or loss of use of a creative organ following menopause, are not considered for special compensation. – Tom Philpott

 

Letters may be edited for clarity or length. Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com.