Originally Posted by
Flyinhigh
Thanks for the information. I am already retired (left 18 months ago) and over 65 so I am on Medicare/Tricare For Life. My wife is 61 so she has a ways to go yet before Medicare kicks in. My concern with going Tricare only is,as a retiree, once you leave the FedEx system you can't go back. So, if Tricare makes any drastic changes I am stuck. Good to know about the Tricare copays counting towards the cap. Sounds like in the worst case I could be on the hook for 3 grand as long as the facility/doctor accept Tricare.
Right - worst case your out $3k for the year. There are forthcoming changes to Tricare pharmacy benefits. The retail pharmacy co-pays may go up some after your first 30 day prescription, but the mail order pharmacy refill option is going down in price, and no changes from mil facility. They're trying to save $ by attempting to curtail the middle man (retail pharmacy network). Pro's & con's to this, but it will save them quite a bit. So far most are happy getting their refills in the mail. However, some drugs are temperature sensitive, and some folks want the face to face with the pharmacist. They is waiver criterion for retail pharmaceuticals.
That is the only proposed change that has been enacted into policy. DoD wants more cuts, as they have to pay active & retiree health care out of the defense budget, but the house & the senate have a pretty good history of pushing back on those proposals over the past 10 years.