Originally Posted by
Flyinhigh
JJ; there is a difference between Tricare For Life and Tricare Standard. If your doctor accepts Medicare he will automatically accept Tricare For Life. The two programs work together. I have been on Medicare and Tricare For Life for just over two years and like you my out of pocket has been virtually zero. I did enroll in a Plan N supplement to cover catastrophic illness but the VEBA through the union reimburses all of that cost. When I was using the active pilot program through FedEx this same doctor did not accept my Tricare Standard as a supplement so I had to file the paperwork myself. With only a $20 copay sometime I didn't even bother to file it.
Tricare for life is the Medicare "supplement" Tricare style. Almost all doctors who accept Medicare will accept Tricare for life as a secondary insurance. They do this because the paperwork standards and requirements are nearly the same for both.
For Tricare standard it's a different story. Many doctors don't like taking Tricare Standard or Prime either for primary or secondary insurance because the processing paperwork and requirements are generally more burdensome than "normal" insurance. Also, Tricare payments are very difficult if the practice doesn't accept Medicare patients per Tricare rules.
Short story: if you have a doctor who takes Medicare, you are good to go with any flavor of Tricare. Even if you have to file secondary Tricare paperwork yourself, as long as the practice takes Medicare you're OK.