We had to take out an emergency personal loan to cover our sons' dental work this year. And listen to my girlfriend's story:

This year my daughter, age 4, was diagnosed as "legally blind." Tricare paid for one visit to the eye doctor. She has required two follow up appointments this year that I must pay for out of pocket. In addition, I must pay for lenses and frames. Because her vision is so poor, we have had to "ease" her into her full perscription. With two lens changes this year, and more on the way, this has become very expensive for my family. It is sad that if my daughter's medical issues were with any other part of her body, that she would have coverage. But because it is with her eyes, we have to pay for it ourselves. Military families deserve better vision coverage than the single eye exam per year offered now.

I am currently drafting a proposal advocating for the expansion of these benefits (active duty dependents should have free non-cosmetic dental and vision care) that I will be presenting to elected officials at the end of the month. In the meantime, I have created a petition that people can sign to show their support.

Please go to: http://www.militaryspousesforchange.com/benefits_petition.php and sign up if you support the bill.

If you could post a bulletin elsewhere and ask others to sign the petition, that would be wonderful!

Please spread the word!

Wouldn't the military need to get that money from somewhere? I know the budget is stretched as it is. Where would it come from? I'm genuinely curious.

i know personally that the "only one visit a year" is a crock. you can go more times, you just have to get a referral from your doctor sent in to tricare. we thought my son was going to need eye surgery and tricare approved our referral request for 16 office visits with one dr and like 10 with the other one for this year

i know personally that the "only one visit a year" is a crock. you can go more times, you just have to get a referral from your doctor sent in to tricare. we thought my son was going to need eye surgery and tricare approved our referral request for 16 office visits with one dr and like 10 with the other one for this year

I have also had more than one visit with several referral's. The only thing that is going to cost me alot of money with dental is braces for the kids.

It would be nice to have a better dental and vision plan, but it really isn't too different from most other employers. I do supplement mine with coverage through my civilian employer also. It costs me about $12 a pay period for dental and $5 for vision coverage.

your best option here might be supplemental insurance either individually, or only on your kids, or through an employer (civilian). There are options out there for individual/family supplemental vision/dental insurance. I generally would suggest this. Although, your daughter's "legally blind" might be seen as a pre-existing condition and therefor not covered, so you'd really have to do your research and ask around.

and alot of special needs will qualify for medicaid--- that will be like a gap insurance...

I think our medical is good compared to other health care plans!!

When my hubby wasn't in the military we had to pay for all dental work our selfs . For medical we had a 200.00 deductible and 25 .00 copay. They also would not pay anything more for vision then tricare does.

i wish dental was free for the soldiers family.ugh..vision would be nice too.

Wouldn't the military need to get that money from somewhere? I know the budget is stretched as it is. Where would it come from? I'm genuinely curious.

Well, I will leave that up to the congressional sponsor to decide, but it won't be that expensive to implement. One could ask where were we going to get the money for the war and yet somehow we always manage to find billions upon billions for that. If the government wants to do it, it can find the funds.

I think our medical is good compared to other health care plans!!

When my hubby wasn't in the military we had to pay for all dental work our selfs . For medical we had a 200.00 deductible and 25 .00 copay. They also would not pay anything more for vision then tricare does.

It may be better than civilian but that doesn't make the lack of full free coverage okay. NO civilian job makes the demands on its employee and his/her family the way the military does. No job gives their employee 100% dental, yet the military covers the service member 100%. if we are using civilians as our standard, then we should stop covering soldiers and make them pay into a regular dental plan for their coverage too...

i know personally that the "only one visit a year" is a crock. you can go more times, you just have to get a referral from your doctor sent in to tricare. we thought my son was going to need eye surgery and tricare approved our referral request for 16 office visits with one dr and like 10 with the other one for this year

I don't know what to say to that. The mother is a friend of mine from another board and I can't imagine that she is lying about this.

Its probably just better to supplement it with an outside insuance...sounds like itd be a lot cheaper for the family

I don't know what to say to that. The mother is a friend of mine from another board and I can't imagine that she is lying about this.

you dont have to know what to say, it is the truth. getting extra appts is as easy as getting a referral. yeah, 100% free healthcare is a grand idea, but it is never going to happen. i know lots of civi jobs where the people work just as long and hard as military men. think about our police and firefighters!!!!!!

I don't know what to say to that. The mother is a friend of mine from another board and I can't imagine that she is lying about this.

we are not calling you or your friend a liar, BUT you can get a referral from your PCM and all extra vision will be covered..a good friend of mine had to take her son severl times a yer because of his bad vision and all it took was a rederral from her PCM and everything was covered.. ALSO my daughter is special needs and we got a referral from her PCM for dental care at Madigan Army Hospital and ALL of her dental work was covered.. you have to be willing to go above and beyond. I have spent countless hours and days getting the referrals but it took ME doing it.

we are not calling you or your friend a liar, BUT you can get a referral from your PCM and all extra vision will be covered..a good friend of mine had to take her son severl times a yer because of his bad vision and all it took was a rederral from her PCM and everything was covered.. ALSO my daughter is special needs and we got a referral from her PCM for dental care at Madigan Army Hospital and ALL of her dental work was covered.. you have to be willing to go above and beyond. I have spent countless hours and days getting the referrals but it took ME doing it.

:agree
I don't think anyone was calling your friend a liar. We are all just saing it CAN be done. It may be a PITA to get a referral but it can happen. My kids PCM helps with everything. She tells me what I sometime have to do farting around with tricare. As far as dental goes, the kids and I go every 6 months for cleanings, and both kids have had to have teeth pulled, fillings and retainers. I have not had to pay anything for those thingsa that I would consider too much. The cleanings are covered 100%, the retainers were covered 100% and I just pay a small % for other work. As far as medical and dental I am pretty satisfied overall.

I signed. Thanks for your dedication to working towards improvement!

yeah they don't pay for hardly anything when it comes to vision and dental. It sucks.

you dont have to know what to say, it is the truth. getting extra appts is as easy as getting a referral. yeah, 100% free healthcare is a grand idea, but it is never going to happen. i know lots of civi jobs where the people work just as long and hard as military men. think about our police and firefighters!!!!!!

:agree

for vision, it doesnt even have to be your PCM that puts in the referral.....it can be the eye dr. that is who did it for my son most recently

Carissa
you can tell your girlfriend from some one that IS legally blind and has been for 26 years. medicaid & SSI with Medicare CAN & will pay for all specailist visits..they also will work with TriCare I know this because *I* have checked into it she also needs to enroll her daughter into the EFMP .. sheesh ... okay off my soapbox now