One of the
benefits of being retired from the United States Military is that I can receive
medical and dental insurance through TriCare. TriCare serves as a medical
insurance provider for all Military personnel who are on Active Duty or Retired.
Most of our
friends are not Military so we have discussions about the cost of medical
insurance for their families. An average family of 3 or 4 persons is today
paying about $1,500 to $2,500 per month in premiums. I will not give you the
exact amount we pay for medical insurance premiums but it is just a little
under $50 per month and that is for full coverage medical insurance for my entire family.
We also have
Delta Dental insurance, which is also provided through TriCare. Although it is
very expensive at close to $150 per month, when you combine what we pay monthly
for medical & Dental insurance, we are still paying less per year than most
people pay per month.
Additional
benefits of TriCare medical insurance include:
No yearly or
lifetime caps on amount they will pay in benefits.
We do have to
pay office visit co-pays and co-pays for medications but we have no
cost-sharing or deductibles. Example from my last medical insurance which was United
Healthcare: Say you have a bill of $10,000. You have to pay $2,000
out-of-pocket each year for each person covered on the medical insurance and
then United Healthcare would pay only 80 percent of the balance. Just one
$10,000 billing would cost me $3,600 out of pocket. I do not have to do that with
TriCare.
Doctors who
accept TriCare are prohibited from charging us the difference from what they
bill TriCare to what TriCare pays them for their services. If the Doctor bills
$1,000 and TriCare pays them only $700 the Doctor is prohibited from charging
us the difference.
We are truly
blessed to have this medical insurance.
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