akindofmagick
Tricare Prime??
Dec 11, 2009
So today I called Phyllis at Bethesda again, and she answered the phone - yay! I asked her if I had to have a Tricare Prime PCP write my referral - and she said NO. Wow - I hope this is true!! I've been stalled a solid week, trying to figure out how to find a new PCP. I asked her several other questions; she still has no firm reading on the sleep apnea test requirement, but said she'd check. The next orientation meeting has been moved to 14 Jan, and she'll contact me next week to confirm. The doc who is experienced with VSGs will be back from his 6 month deployment by then, and should attend the meeting. In our previous conversation she indicated that if they're too over-subscribed, she'll refer me to Johns Hopkins Bayview Center for Bariatric Surgery (JHBCBS) for the procedure - they take Tricare Prime. Altho there's some question as to whether Tricare covers VSGs performed at non-military hospitals... maybe by January, with all the expected changes in VSG coverage by insurance agencies, this will have been hammered out. So - perhaps it's best if I reschedule my appt with the JH Bayview doc for one week later (or 2 - they're closed on MLK day, 18 Jan - he only does introductory meetings on Mondays)Called my PCP's office and they were already closed, so will get the ball rolling on Monday to get the referral. Oh - and must get a colonoscopy scheduled ASAP.
Essentially, I'm pursuing this simultaneously from two fronts: self-pay and Tricare Prime. I'll have to join TP - but the costs will be substantially less than the $20K quoted for self-pay at JHBCBS. I have no intentions of dropping my company's insurance program, as I love my PCP and she doesn't take Tricare Prime!! Nor does our pediatrician - and I'm not about to stop using him, unless there's no other option.
If I have to take the $$ out of my 401k - I will - but obviously I'd rather not if there's a way around it.
Whichever way works out - I plan to have the VSG hopefully on Good Friday - or Easter Monday (second choice).
I wish I'd had the procedure yesterday... or better yet, 18 months ago when I first learned of it.
I wish I'd never told my family - but in all honesty, I didn't expect the incredible push-back they laid on me, and to go to Dr Aceves, I needed them to look after my girls for 4 days.
Dr Aceves' office staff has offered up a nanny and an adjoining room in the hospital for the girls to stay in - and I'm tempted - but I'm just plain reluctant to put them thru that - thru seeing me unconscious and uncomfortable. That's option 3, tho - should I be deemed not quite fat enough for the procedure. I'm so psyched about this life-changing surgery that I've been eating better and exercising.. with the result that I'm borderline - and my co-morbidities are minimal... although increasing from month to month.
