Question:
Information about Tricare Insurance.
Ok Get ready for a long story. My husband is going in the military in NOV 2005 with prior service. We will get a choice of duty station (to some extent). First question if anyone can answer, Which bases are easiest to get surgery on or off post. Second question can someone please tell me COMPLETELY what i am looking at getting surgery. I weight 385 at 22 I am 5 ft 4 in. I need to know the time table it took for you get appointments. I need to know pre-op diets, testing everything. I have between now and NOV. and i want all my ducks in a row for the day we get to our new post. SO PLEASEEEEE HELP. i look forward to any personal emails. my addy is [email protected]. — Navada L. (posted on February 22, 2005)
February 22, 2005
You didnt say what branch of service that would make a diffeence on where
you would be stationed. We are navy and have tricare and We are in
Kingsland Ga.. I got here in Jan got my referrel in Feb had Surgery in
March this was all in 2003 so very easy from start to finish..
I just had my tummy tuck 2 weeks ago tomorrow.. Had to fight tricare for
it but well worth the fight
— Catherine B
February 22, 2005
Army service.
— Navada L.
February 22, 2005
well im in virginia beach, va. i started my journey and it took about 6
months, but i got deferred out to a civiian doc at my choice, portsmouth
naval has a wonderful system and wonderful docs, i wish i would of stuck
with the military docs, it was so easy to get approved, no problems here,
my bmi was 41. with sleep apnea and high blood pressure as co-mordbids.
good luck, as you are still young and have so much life ahead of you!!!
— shellypoe
February 22, 2005
Hello Linda,
I am Dionna I had a gastric bypass July 16th 2003 I have tricare they will
tell you if you get it done using tricare or on the base you will be in for
a wait. the require you to under go Psch eval, to go to some sort of
program in the navy its called ship shape which they teach you the proper
ways to cut back and to Change your eatting patterns they also tell you.
you Must keep a log and have at least 1-2 years of diets you have tried.
it took me 6 months if you need to talk yell my way btw what branch is he
in and where are you wanting to go?
Dionna
— Dionna_Dupuis
February 22, 2005
Here at Fort Campbell, KY (Army) the wait varies because right now they are
transitioning all the paintents to the civilian community because they are
preparing for the one on-base surgeon to deploy forward. So it depends on
what doctor that you end up seeing as to what you need for the process.
BASICALLY, the majority of the civilian docs want at least 6 months of
documented diet control, go through nutritional training at their facility,
have a psych eval, various bloodwork to rule out or confirm any other
illnesses (like diabetes, thyroid, etc...), sometimes a sleep test needs to
be done to check for apneia and sometimes upper and lower GI series need to
be done for various reasons. It really depends on your own current state of
health. Any bloodwork and tests done that are over 6 months old need to be
rerun anyways so depending on how much time you have until you get a duty
station, you may not want to do anything yet except work on documenting
your weight loss efforts. Perhaps having your current doctor put you on a
medically supervised diet if you do not think your history is good enough
would be a VERY good start. Plan on your wait being 6 months to a year
depending on the base and their own deployment status! If you guys come to
FTCKY, we are close to various WLS programs in Clarksville (TN), Nashville
(TN), Paducha (KY), and Bowling Green (KY). Brightest Blessings~
— MagickalMom
February 23, 2005
My husband is a recruiter right now so I was able to use a civilian
surgeon, which was great!
I went to the hospital's seminar is Sept. and had my surgery date by Nov.
time frame and had my surgery Jan. 7th, 2004.
I did have to see a psych and have a sleep study which I THINK were
required by Tricare. But all in all it really wasn't a bad wait/experience.
I haven't paid for anything other than a SMALL co-pay for a special mask
for my CPAP machine.
I wish you all the best and if I can answer any other questions for ya
please don't hesitate to email me!
Tracy
306/203/HEALTHY!!
— Tracy P.
February 24, 2005
Hello Linda I was at Ft. Stewart GA and I had my surgery Jan 7, 2004 I had
to visit with the nutrionist which I did on post for about 2 classes and
like 2 one on one visits and I also had to get a psych evaluation which I
did off post and that was it but everyone is different because some people
there did not have to go through the nutrionist class and others did but
other than that it was not hard at all to get approved oh yea and the
gastric bypass ws done on post well good luck
— JENNIFER S.
February 24, 2005
I just had my surgery Feb 11th, 2005. My husband is Marine Corps so we are
stationed at Pensacola, Fl. They have a decent Naval Hospital, but all I
did was get a referral from my PCP at the hospital for my surgeon (civilian
dr). My surgeons office called to set up an appointment and mailed out
information that I needed. Within the info it stated I needed a psych exam
and nutritional eval. Before my appointment with the surgeon I completed
these things. I did have to pay $35 for the nutrition eval and then $150
(half) of the psych exam. Now I was in contant contact with Tricare making
sure I was doing the correct things when it came to these things. Finally I
had my appointment with my surgeon and after that he submitted the
paperwork to Tricare and within a week they approved it. It was really easy
for me! I did have a year of diets on my medical records, so that may have
helped. I had a good experience, maybe I was just lucky. If you need
anything else please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Brandy
— brandlin23
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