Military healthcare is an absolute disgrace.
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coasties deserve better than this.
JoeUser Forums
My husband is active duty military.
He does things for this country that most citizens wouldn't ever do. Couldn't ever do, even. He deploys to combat zones, separating himself from his family, his home and the American way of life to defend the American Constitution (or barrels of oil, depending on your political viewpoint).. He puts himself in harm's way; he's at the government's beck and call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When he enlisted in the military, he was promised certain things: a pension, (should he stay in long enough to be eligible for retirement) a steady paycheck, and healthcare being but three of them.
Healthcare. He's never really had to use the healthcare system before. He goes in every year for a physical and is seen twice a year for his hypertension, but that's about it. He doesn't get ill very often, so he's had no reason to utilize the military healthcare system.
Until now. For those of you who don't know, he's torn his ACL. Badly. He's going to need surgical intervention - a knee reconstruction. His doctor told him last night that he'd need to see an orthopedic surgeon and that she'd put in a referral with Tricare, the military's healthcare insurance provider. Apparently, the military no longer requires their members to see military providers and everybody is getting referred to civilian providers.
my husband spent ALL MORNING on the phone with various orthopedic surgeons, trying to get an appointment to be seen. Tricare was useless - they literally handed him a printout of all the orthopedic surgeons in the local area and wished him luck finding one that would not only see new patients, but one that would be able to see him in June. He called, called and called some more, only to be told that 1) they didn't have any appointments until July, 2) they weren't accepting new patients, or 3) they don't take Tricare anymore. (He'd actually be better off going to the ER and complaining about his knee; that'd give him a better chance of actually being seen by an orthopedic surgeon and getting a surgery date. He won't do that, because he's honest.....yet another situation where honesty doesn't really pay)
This is an active duty person, a man who puts himself in harm's way for this country - and he's having to chase down an appointment to see about having his knee fixed. I could see if it were a dependent or other family member being treated this way; we're second class citizens as far as Tricare is concerned, but an active duty Airman?
It's disgraceful. Tricare and the military healthcare system should be ashamed of themselves, as should all of those elected officials who voted to cut military healthcare right back to the quick. It's simply not good enough, America. It's not good enough, and it's shameful. We should be taking care of these men and women, not making them worry about how they're going to get their injuries fixed - or even IF they can get their injuries fixed. We are doing our service men and women a dis-service by treating them this way, America. We are literally saying to them 'too bad we fucked you out of the benefits you were promised when you enlisted. Now please apply this lube liberally, turn around and bend over so we can fuck you out of something else'.
You may think I'm being melodramatic about this. I say that if you'd sat and watched my husband this morning, if you'd watched him call again and again and again, all the while getting more and more desperate because he was being told no over and over again and the rest of his career literally depends on the outcome of this surgery....well, I think you'd have agreed with me.
Military heathcare is an absolute disgrace, and our service men and women deserve better.
That's the bottom line.
