Base Plan vs Buy Up Plan w/Tricare Standard (or other secondary insurance)
 

All-

I spent quite a few hours earlier in the week researching the new health care plans.

I spoke with Anthem, Tricare and my current doctor's insurance manager at length.

Thought I'd pass along my take with regards to the Bae Plan vs the Buy Plan, for those folks who have Tricare Standard at no cost as part of their military retirement.

It may also apply to those who have other "secondary payer" health insurance through another job or their spouses health insurance (however, those deductibles and how those insurance companies pay out secondary claims may differ).

(Disclaimer: If you don't have secondary insurance it appears the Buy Up Plan is best for most people.)

As some other posters have already noted, when comparing the Base Plan to the Buy Up Plan it's pretty easy to see you are making a tradeoff decision of increased monthly premiums of $65 per month ($100 base plan vs $165 buy up plan --- for Employee & Family) vs. the differences in the In-Network deductible & non-preventative coverage ($250 individual/$750 family/90% base plan vs $0/$0/100% buyup plan).

When you consider your buy-up premiums are paid with pre-tax money, your actual annual cost of the extra premiums are $65 x (1-tax rate) x 12 months.

...i.e. at a 33% tax rate --- $65 x (1-.33) x 12 = $515

On the simplist level, you are getting rid of the base plan $750 family deductible and the 10% cost share of non-preventative care for only $515 --- a good deal!

However, if you have Tricare Std you can eliminate all of your co-pays, a good portion of the base plan deductible, and a large part of the 10% non-preventative cost share burden by simply filing with Tricare Standard as "second payer" --- especially if you schedule preventative health care visits early in the year.

The Tricare Standard deductible are $150 per person and $300 per family.

If you schedule preventative visits (i.e. adult or child annual physicals) early in the year, Anthem will pay 100% coverage --- with possibly a $20 copay. (Note: Anthem will pay preventative visits at 100% w/out application of the deductible)

Tricare will then process the claim and consider all payments made by Anthem as applying to your annual deductible.

Once your Tricare deductible is satisfied ($150 individual/$300 family), Tricare will pay your copays and pay 80% of the Tricare allowable charges up until you satisfy your Anthem deductibles ($250 individual/$750 family) at which point Anthem becomes "primary again" and covers 90% of the non-preventative costs.

At this point and beyond,Tricare should cover the other 10% and your co-pays as "secondary payer", and then you should have zero out-of-pocket costs the remainder of the year.

Using this method, I believe the "worse case" scenario is that you pay the first $300 in the Tricare deductible and then 20% of the costs before the $750 Anthem deductible is satisfiedl (20% x 450 = $90).

Thus, "worse case" your costs will be paying $390 out of pocket each year....cheaper than the increase in premiums of $515, even when you consider the tax benefits.

In reality, if you schedule preventative visits early in the year before you have a non-preventative vist, you will most likely wipe out most of the Tricare $300 deductible and end up paying even less.:)

Just thought I'd share this analysis with others --- would be interesting to hear what most retired military pilots are choosing.

A'o Aloha

Many, many thanks for that excellent post. I don't have Tricare but it still provided great info for my personal situation. I'm 29 and single so I immediately thought the Base plan would be the way to go. But with my propensity to risk my neck in the mountains of Colorado, the Buy Up plan seems like good 'insurance.'

Thanks again DLax, mahalo!

DLax,
EXCELLENT POST AND THANKS FOR THE RESEARCH. ONE POINT...My wife is a bit of a health insurance Guru, handling our insurance issues during all times of our lives (ACTIVE DUTY/activations/Guard...etc) One imortant note: CALENDAR years for deductible computations are different. TRICARE is OCT 1 - SEPT 30 and ANTHEM will be JAN 1 - DEC 31. Many folks may meet TRICARE deductibles while under current insurance for the remainder of this year, thus eliminating the need to schedule appointments early. (JUST REMEMBER THE OVERLAP, IT CAN WORK TO YOUR ADVANTAGE)-REMEMBER FILE THE PAPERWORK WITH TRICARE- Providers typically will not file paperwork if a service is covered in full by ANTHEM. On a Memphis note, Baptist Hosp is a TRICARE provider, the addition of Baptist Hospital w/Anthem furthur reduces any out of pocket costs. On a Pharmacy note, Its TRICARE all the way (since the Company plan is no plan)

Great advice! Many thanks guys...SG

You are correct sir --- I did discover that important tidbit too, but left it out of my post because I was worried it may already be difficult to follow.

I agree, the non-aligned benefit years is probably a big advantage and it would be even better to schedule your preventative annual physicals at the end of the calendar year (Oct - Dec), have Anthem pay 100% and then file with Tricare anyway to get the "credit" towards your Tricare deductibles.

That way when you drink too much on New Year's Eve and head to the emergency room just past midnight for non-preventative care, Tricare would jump in and pay 80% up until you met your Anthem deductbile limits for the new year.:D

Bumping this up for GOOP95

Long story short, as a military retiree flying for Fedex, I think all your family will need is the Fedex Base Plan....and TRICARE standard as "second payer"

Read thru this thread for an explanation

However, I believe the health plans available at Fedex will be changing in 2017 due to changes/agreements in our new CBA

Great old synopsis! I defer the fedex plan and rely solely on Tricare Standard. There are no annual premiums. As you pointed out a $300 family deductible after which they pay 75% and in network 80%, with a catastrophic cap out of pocket of $3k. In the buy up plan one will pay $225x 12months=$2700 before any treatment. Then copays and deductibles as described. A stand alone Tricare plan saves the monthly premium costs, and one assumes the risk of the co-pay, up to $3k then the cap protects from downside risk from there. Only shortfall is if in your geographic area, your providers don't accept Tricare.

Any sage advice on dental?

Take the buy up. Tastes great, less filling!

Agree - 100%

Unless your spouse has something better, take the fedex buy up here

Military retiree dental is not that great

Bumping again for those asking about how to best dovetail
FEDEX plans with TRICARE plans

Unfortunately, I think much could change in 2017 under the new contract

Has your analysis changed for 2017?
 

Just wondering if your analysis has changed with the new plans.

I was thinking about going with Tricare Standard with a Supplement and foregoing FedEx company insurance. But I need to get educated on the pros and cons.

Any insight would be great! (Even if it is "read my previous posts" Ha!)