The letter Ron and I had been awaiting arrived in yesterdays mail. “Doc” has been our PCP for over 10 years.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. xxxxx
It is with a great deal of regret that I am terminating my contract with Medicare due to the costly red tape and requirements to file claims beginning July 1, 2013. One of the requirements of USFHP is that I am a Medicare provider and since I am terminating my contract with Medicare my contract with USFHP will terminate as well. it is important that you establish care with another physician so you do not run out of your medicine.
It deeply saddens me to end my relationship with you. I have enjoyed being your physician and wish you a very happy and healthy future. I have enclosed a release of medical records form for you to complete so you can pick your medical records up. Please let us know at least 2 weeks in advance of when you will pick up your records.
Please contact US Family Health Plans to switch your primary care provider before July 1, 2013.
Best wishes,
Doc
USFHP is a TRICARE Prime option available to active duty family members and military retirees and their eligible family members that are 64 years of age and under.
My husband served in the United States Air Force for over 20 years and retired in the 1990’s. What would be fair is for the insurance cartel, Congress and elected officials serving at all levels in the Republic of Texas (& their crony campaign contributors to both political parties) to not force this man to be in a medical plan that pays for behavioral health services, birthing centers, breast pumps, circumcision, diabetic shoes, diabetic education programs, eating disorder treatment, family planning, hairpieces, home birth, infertility testing, maternity care, midwife services, penile implants, sleep studies, sonograms, pre-natal vitamins and a myriad of other services both he and I do not need, will never use, or would pay cash for out of our own pocket.
It’s too late for Ron and I to petition our government for the freedom to opt of Medicare taxation and build up that health care nest egg ourselves (without selling off acquired assets I’d prefer to leave to my sister), but it’s not too late for us to support that freedom for the generation of our nieces and nephews.
Sadly, more people will post a story today on their Facebook page about some attention-seeking incident at Lone Star College than will post a story about solutions to further the cause of fairness and freedom.
One retired veteran lost his freedom yesterday. Who’s next?
I am reading that Democrats are also getting very nervous about the Obamacare boondoggle and all that comes with it. This affects everyone, except those we elected who exempted themselves. The list of things that must be paid for is sad. There was a time in this country, when insurance was for hospitalization only. What happened between you and the Dr. was your business, as was how much you paid and how. We are going to lose great physicians and wisdom.
Tell your husband to go to the V.A. for medical care. They do a good job. Also, it’s a good thing some of those college kids that got stabbed are still on their parents insurance til they turn 26. That’s part of Obamacare too. BTW it’s a good thing that special ed kid at Lone Star College didn’t have access an assault weapon. Maybe he tried to get hold of one but didn’t pass the background check.
Like you, I am a US Family Health Care member. If they cut you off, you still have TRICARE. Most docs will take TRICARE just like Blue Cross. It pays 80 percent. And, you still have access to military medical care facilities. You are not cutoff from TRICARE. You just may have to change doctors and get out of US Family Health Care.
It’s possible your present doc will take you as a TRICARE patient. Yes, USFHC is a good deal, as long as you only get sick in Houston. Don’t get sick out of town or overseas. Also, I’ve had them refuse to fill prescriptions because they didn’t think my doc knew what he was doing when he wrote the script. That kind of pisses me off.
My wife and I are thinking of dumping US Family Health Care when I turn 65 and go onto medicare. At that point, TRICARE for Life kicks in and it acts basically as a medicare supplement policy and cheap prescription availability program.
In the real world, that is non-TRICARE, it is not uncommon for an employer to change health insurers and force a change in providers. Look, we’re getting a hell of a deal from the taxpayers for our military service. We earned it but it still is a hell of a deal.
And, Yvonne, another thought. TRICARE is that dreaded single payer government health insurance. You know, what you opposed during the debates over Obama Care.
My position was, and remains, that if a single payer government sponsored plan is good enough for members of the military and retirees and their families, why is it bad for everyone else?
Yvonne,
I have a flash for you…The same thing happens all the time with PRIVATE ENTERPRISE insurance programs all the time. I had the same PCP from the early 80’s until 2001, when my Doctor had his fill of Aetna and dropped out of their system for fundementally the same reasons you listed. He did not like the constant dickering over billing.
I had no choice but to find a new PCP and life went on as usual.
Simple
It is a LIE for anyone to tell another American “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”. I am not advocating to keep TRICARE, as our “betters” do not know what is best for my husband and I. The solution for my family is market -based reforms and choice and the elimination of a one size fits all that doesn’t. And puuuhleeezzzee, our family doesn’t need to be forced into a plan that pays for maternity care and home birthing services when his wife can’t get pregnant anyway.
Yvonne,
Insurance is Socialism in disguise. We all pay into the program under the theory that most of us will be well at any one moment; therefore we can as a group cover the expenses of the few who are sick. I cannot deny that the spectrum of what is covered has broadened over the years. Some of things in your “burr in the saddle list” seem reasonable to me. Just because you do not need them doesn’t mean someone else might not need it. You can opt to pay for things out of your pocket if you so desire.
For instance (a few items from you little list):
1. Diabetic Education Programs
This is actually preventative medicine and might save some downstream money if you can get the diabetic to alter his diet and do a little exercise. It is a lot cheaper (saves the plan money) than paying for direct and indirect complications of diabetes.
2. Infertility Testing
Really? Don’t you think a couple would like to know why they cannot have a child so they can make intelligent decisions.
3. Eating disorder
Like the diabetes counseling..this is preventive medicine, which is cheaper than paying for the downstream problems if the behavior is not corrected. We probably should know not to stuff those double bacon – double meat – extra cheeze burgers down our throats and wash them down with a Coke, but I will submit the lines at the fast food joints are evidence that the collective population does not know.
4. Pre-natal Vitamins
Really? Healthy mothers have a better chance of having GASP! Healthy babies, which are cheaper than the not so healthy variety. My wife and I are raising our granddaughter. My daughter did not take very good care of herself and as a result our angel is legally blind with a host of other problems. We go to Occupational and Physical Therapy 4 days a week. The waiting rooms are full of mothers who probably would not be there if they had had better access to medical help and taken care of themselves. Of course you and I are now footing the bill for the lifelong problems.
Angel is on Medicaid. I could put her on my Retiree-Aetna plan if I adopted her, but the coverage is about 25{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of what we get under Medicaid and Social Security. I would not have been able to cover the costs Out-of-Pocket and retire. The costs would have been staggering even when both of us were employed.
Simple
It’s not a lie that if “you like your doctor, you can keep him.” First, there is nothing that is keeping you from staying with the same doctor. Just drop out of USFMP and go as a regular TRICARE patient. Or, if he doesn’t take TRICARE, just pay for your services out of pocket. That way you could save the TRICARE annual registration fee.
No one requires you to use TRICARE as your health insurer. I do because it is the best deal around. Your husband earned it, just like I did. But he can get health insurance at his job if he’s not happy with TRICARE. And, if you can get insurance other than TRICARE, have at it. Your “betters” did not decide what is best for you. Your physician entered into a contract to be in the USFHP network, he no longer likes what the contract requires him to do so he is dropping out. Unless he is one of your “betters,” it was a business decision made by a physician in the free market not to participate in an insurance program he thinks is is more trouble than it’s worth.
I feel sorry for you having to change providers. But changing doctors shouldn’t come as any big shock to anyone who spent 20 years on active duty in the military.
I hate to sound cold but we — that is military retirees, active duty military and our dependents — get a hell of a deal with TRICARE. The Defense Department says it is breaking the budget. We pay less per year for our insurance than most people pay per month. We get cheap (or free) prescriptions. We earned this benefit by serving our country in uniform. It was part of the deal we got when we took the oath to join the military.
But no one says you must stick with TRICARE.
It is a lie to tell people “if they like their doctor, they can keep their doctor”. Period.
Here’s why my law-abiding USAF retiree husband and I would never go to the VA.
http://surviveandthrive.tv/full-interview-va-doctor-psychiatrist-exposes-national-gun-confiscation-plan/
Yvonne, Now I’m scared, not of what that Darth Vader sounding Dr X that you linked to said, I’m scared that people who believe that guy have guns.