TRICARE Reserve Select - Comments Requested

2014-09-12T16:41:59-04:00

I'm interested in hearing from reservists who use TRICARE Reserve Select - especially those who use it now and have previously used private insurance. Looking at its premiums, its considerably cheaper than my private insurance. How has your experience been using it? Plusses and minuses?

Response by SSgt Gregory Guina made Sep 12 at 2014 5:20 PM

2014-09-12T17:20:47-04:00

Sir my brother recently joined the ANG and now has access to TRICARE Reserve. We were talking about it and the one downside that he could find with it is that it is not accepted by the current Drs that he has. Additionally the Drs that do accepts it are not located in a convienant area for him. He is still processing the information but the last he said was that he was not going to sign up his family for it as it is inconvienant.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 12 at 2014 10:40 PM

2014-09-12T22:40:02-04:00

My family and I currently have TRS, since 2007 except when on orders and getting Prime (TRS since late 2011 continuously). I like the coverage and plan on keeping it for the foreseeable future.

The rates are far better than the civilian equivalents, even though they've risen slightly over the last few years. It is essentially the same coverage as Tricare Standard. I have a generally pretty wide array of doctors to choose from, and it has a few perks such as annual wellness checks for children, annual vision exams, and (if you pay the extra dental premium) 6-month dental checkup/cleanings being 100% covered.

What you can get caught on is the same things that can annoy you of civilian insurance, though. For example, go to many doctors and they will have a separate company for lab work and sometimes also for prescriptions, and it's not uncommon to pay a single copay only for them to come back at you for a separate copay for each entity involved (like the independent lab). Similarly, if you go to a more expensive care facility, don't be surprised to have them say that the costs exceeded the maximum allowable charge for particular procedures. Again, this headache is the same thing you face on the civilian side unless you're at the level where you're getting premium PPO with "Concierge Service," so what I'm really saying here is don't expect that part to change.

Response by COL Randall C. made Sep 15 at 2014 9:43 AM

2014-09-15T09:43:31-04:00

CAPT Private RallyPoint Member, take a look at the 3 pieces of advice I gave to new RC soldiers at https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/advice-to-new-reserve-component-soldiers?urlhash=172063#172063 ... detailed writeup on TRS.

Advice to (new) Reserve Component Soldiers | RallyPoint

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to a new reserve component soldier that is different from the advice you would give to an active duty soldier?

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Sep 15 at 2014 9:56 AM

2014-09-15T09:56:16-04:00

I am a retired gray area "tweeny" (14yrs to go) and I use Tricare and have had minimal issues. The generic Rxs I have are almost all no co-pay, All my medical Drs except it. The cost for an individual or family medical and dental plans is very comparably priced, I'd even say about 10-15% less when compared to (in my neck of the woods) Blue Cross, Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim and United Health Care. Only issue I have is almost all psychiatric and counseling services in my area don't accept Tricare. I'm looking into away around that to see if Tricare has a max out of network cost for those services so I can get partial reimbursement for those costs. Only other issue I had, and I believe this is with all double coverage issues no matter the providers, is the "who gets billed first" game. My last employer offered free individual Blue Cross coverage which was great as it eliminated all co-pays for me. It took a few months to get BC & Tricare to "agree" who the primary and secondary provider was. Finally after some over charges and over billings , which were all resolved, they got it straight.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Sep 15 at 2014 10:15 AM

2014-09-15T10:15:31-04:00

My response is necessarily dated. I used the Tricare dental about when it first came out. I had trouble getting anyone to accept it, and when I did find a doc to accept it, it would take multiple months to get mandatory pre-approvals. Once the pre-approvals were obtained, and the work was done - They denied the claims because the work wasn't pre-approved. I & my dentist then submitted THIER pre-approval letters multiple times and finally had to threaten to go to the states insurance commissioner before they would pay.

I heard similar stories about Tricare Medical from other members of the NG at the time. Since I have civilian insurance, I just walked away.

From what I have heard, both have improved by leaps and bounds, but I have never been motivated to sign up until very recently. I am about to accept an ADOS tour, and just started looking into do I keep my civ insurance, swap it for some version of tricare, keep both, etc.

Quite honestly, I am overwhelmed/confused by all the different tricare options right now & trying to figure out what they are. VERY confusing. (I say this as a former insurance agent and one who has spent the last 16 years working for my states Industrial Insurance provider.) I quite honestly need a chart...

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2014 10:19 AM

2014-09-15T10:19:18-04:00

TRICARE Reserve Select is unavailable to Federal employees, so it's not a benefit to a large number of reservists. Why should a benefit be denied due to your civilian employment choices?

Response by SrA Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2015 11:28 PM

2015-10-08T23:28:02-04:00

I know this is an older post but I have some enrollment questions regarding TRS. My husband used to be active so myself & our son were under Tricare prime then prime remote. My husband was discharged in March & since then we haven't had any coverage (I know, I know). I went to enroll everyone in TRS today the only option was for myself & not my family. This was the same problem I ran into signing up for dental. I thought maybe it was some kind of issue because I didn't transfer them under me when I was in basic & AIT because they were covered under my husband & I felt that it'd be easier to keep as much the same as possible. I went onto RAPIDS & both of them are listed so there's no issue with DEERS.

Do you know if I have to enroll myself first & once I'm in then I can enroll my family? I really would rather not have to do that because it's an additional month I have to wait to get coverage on my son & winter is fast approaching.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 21 at 2016 10:17 AM

2016-04-21T10:17:55-04:00

We love TRS and have nothing but good things to say about it. We have never had an issue finding coverage, and the price can't be beat. Lord willing, we'll enjoy this benefit for years to come.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made May 16 at 2018 4:39 AM

2018-05-16T04:39:24-04:00

For price and coverage if you have a family, hard to beat. Hate everything else about it. Can never count on regular bill. They have forgotten more than once to bill me then they slam me double the next month. A couple times they only billed like 20-30 bucks, swearing over the phone it was correct only to bill me extra the next month. Had dropped coverage a month while my son was in hospital. If you can afford it, pay extra for another insurance just to avoid the headache. I’m reserve select but still. Holy hell. My kid racked up a bill that was over a million in 3.5 months in the NICU. I wasn’t covered a month because of their mistake. Though it was corrected in the end, imagine the stress I went through. Save yourself the stress if you can.