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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How do you react as a parent today when your kid says they are thinking of joining either the Marines or the military.[/quote]

Absolutely not.

Do not make me shoot you in the foot.

Members of the military are honorable people who are horrifically exploited by our government. [/quote]

I mean, sure but my husband makes more than a GS15 and has a much better pension at 43 and healthcare for life. There is a LOT of sacrifice for it, but we're good with the trade off.[/quote]

The health care is complicated as once you hit medicareyou go on tricare for life and have to pay for that and it's a few hundred a month.  Tricare is not exactly good either if you have complex needs.  And, your pension may be good as an officer but it's not very good as enlisted.  I'd support my child choosing military after they got a college degree we paid for and as an officer.  Most military are enlisted, not officers and everything is not so peachy. [/quote]

We have children and I, as the spouse, have complex needs. We've never had issues accessing excellent care[/quote]

I definitely need think the care varies depending on the duty station.  Luckily, Walter Reed is phenomenal and can meet just about any medical need- as long as you can find a parking spot there.  If you were stationed at Ft.Polk, Louisiana, yea you would have more limits and complications with advanced care.  But the military has a program you can enter if you or a dependent has complex medical needs; where you are only stationed at places that can meet your medical needs (major medical centers)[/quote]

Don't give bad advice.  Walter Reed is a ghost town lately.  It takes weeks to get a primary care appointment and months for specialty appointments and often you are referred off base.  Few people take tricare so the ones that do are bad.

If you get good care, you are lucky.  I haven't been.  I have been getting a huge run around and it's been a nightmare.

Parking is easy as long as you go to the top of the lots and know the patient parking for arrowhead is closed and park at the one across from the america building.[/quote]

Pro-tip: change your PCM. Some PCMs are only available on a very limited basis and they don't tell you that. You can also see a next-available provider that isn't your PCM.

For specialists we've been seen very quickly. Which one are you unable to see for months?[/quote]

Not sure how you get in so quickly but we don't.  Then, once you see the specialist it's at least 1-2 months for any testing beyond blood and urine.  Things like MRI's are often 3 months.

I've been through few PCM's and none are very good.  You can only see another provider that is on that "team" and not any provider at the facility.  The only way to get quick care is to use Doctors on Demand, which at least they pay for with a co-pay.  But, they are limited on what they can do.[/quote]

When I need to I do imaging at private facilities that take Tricare prime e.g. Washington Radiology and INOVA. No need to wait for one at Walter Reed.

In general, as someone with special medical needs, I've never found PCMs helpful outside of facilitating referrals.[/quote]

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