Delta's Health Insurance vs Tricare
 

I start at Delta soon and will need to make a decision about health insurance. Have any military retirees compared Delta's health insurance to Tricare? I have info on Tricare but not on Delta's plan yet.

$460 a year for Tricare Prime for the whole family is hard to beat. No pre-existing condition clause too. All these years we *****ed about Tricare and now we realize what a good deal it is compared to civilian plans. Munch munch, the sound of me eating crow....

I'm happy with the Prime coverage we have now. The cost for dental looks a bit steep for a retiree family however, $140/month. I have to decide whether or not to sign up for Prime by December 20th to have the coverage continue or let it drop to Standard/Extra.

How about Delta's plan compaired to Tricare Reserve, the new program for SELRES?

Tricare...

***??? I just got out of the navy went directly into selres, and this is the first I am hearing of this....and I went round and round with Tricare about my newborn because there was a chance he could have been born after I got out which would have left us high and dry for health care, not once did anyone mention this program...

looks like a pretty good program, $250 or so a month for family coverage, 300 annual deductable before copays begin...$1000 cap on yearly expenses not incl premiums of course.

Also just got off active duty navy, now selres, and doing the TRS. We still live close to base and can use the emergency room, pharmacy(no cost) and several other clinics on base(all no cost).
Plus I was too lazy to read the new Delta Health care plans.

FWIW my wife and I compared plans and chose Tricare Reserve select for medical and Delta for the dental. Concordia is way over priced. Tricare Res Sel is $253 per month for the whole family - $300 deduct.

In some ways I agree with you guys, but there is a catch with tricare. Look at where you live, or intend to live. Tricare is Wonderful, if you live in an area where there are providers. If you intend to live in an area with a strong military presence than I would go with tricare. We just moved to Gainesville, FL so Dash 2 can work on a PHD. Tricare providers here are few and far between. This can lead to big issues with the choices and quality of care. Delta's plan is not cheap. It is really not that far of Tricare ~ 450 for me and wife. I think about 500 ish for some kids. Gold option is the way to go.

Delta's providers are good quality and the RX stuff is no hassle. My wife takes a VERY expensive RX every month and the health plan was EASIER than tricare ever was.

All I am trying to say is you should take a real good look at the provider list before passing on the Delta plans. Good luck.

Slinky

Does anyone have experience with Delta's HSA? That with Tricare seems very appealing.

Check out MOAA's Tricare supplement also.

HSA is brand new to us for 2008, so we'll have to see. I'm going to give it a try.

I always thought you were Dash 2?

Razor,

I don't know a thing about Delta's health care plan, but I'm wondering why you think you need to make a "choice" between the two. Why not use the Tricare basic plan (no cost to you or your family) as your secondary provider, and the Delta plan as your primary. That's what we're doing here at FedEx and between the two, we end up with virtually no medical or pharmaceutical expenses, save the cost of the FedEx health/dental plan, plus the normal deductible at the beginning of the year.

JJ

Jetjok, that's what I'm trying to figure out. It looks like Tricare Prime is $460/year and Delta is about $200/month. If the coverage of Prime is close to the coverage from Delta's then I'll stay with Prime if we end up in a good service area. I'll take at look at the Delta information and make a comparison.

When deciding between Tricare Reserve and the Delta plans, be sure to consider that the monthly rate for Delta plans are paid with pre-tax dollars and the $253/month Tricare plan is after tax dollars.

I don't know if Delta offered a Tricare supplemental plan, but if they did by law it will go away as of Jan 1. In an effort save the DoD money and push the cost of healthcare onto its veterans and the companies they go to work for, Congress passed the law last year.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,150697,00.html

I'd agree with slinky. Be careful and check out on the Tricare website if there are providers in the area you plan on living. As a reservist, I live 60 minutes from the closest base. In my neck of the woods (population 120,000) there are only 2 providers that take Tricare. What a pain to have to pay up front and then submit to Tricare for payback.

We tried Tricare here but the two doctors in my town that took Tricare were creeps and had shady backgrounds. No fun for my wife. I'd much rather pay NWA for their health care plan than deal with that.

I hadn't thought about the fact that it's pre-tax money either.

Tricare is great when you live next to a military hospital but elsewhere, no thanks.

Humboldt

Maybe
 

Not if you pay for it out of a FlexSaver account.

Reall Check Close
 

Make sure you really check for Tricare Providers. There's a difference between Tricare and Tricare Prime providers. If they take Medicare then they take Tricare. But they may not be a Tricare Prime provider. Make sure you don't rely just on the Tricare website. Ask the doc you want to use if they will accept Tricare. They may and not be on the website. I use Tricare Standard in the MSP area and use the same doc/clinic I used with NWA Medica. It is way cheaper than NWA's plan. You can also pay your deductable costs with FlexSaver account dollars and they becomes pretax dollars.

Is your FlexSaver account an Health Savings Account? Does your company contribute to it at all like a 401k match?

That is not possible. See below. TriCare is a traditional health insurance plan. Copied directly from the U.S. Treasury website at: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/publi...ity.shtml#hsa5

Who is eligible for a Health Savings Account?
To be eligible for a Health Savings Account, an individual must be covered by a HSA-qualified High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and must not be covered by other health insurance that is not an HDHP.

Pre-existing conditions
 

Anybody know how I can find out how much I would be paying for insurance at Delta with pre-existing conditions on family members? Kind of concerned how much I would be paying per month and want to compare prices. Thanks.

How do you get a FlexSaver account under the Delta plans? The HSA and FSA options in the Delta plans specifically exclude health insurance premiums from the list fo available expenses. Is there another option that I missed?

My wife is still active duty so I still am under Tricare prime/active duty. After my research the Tricare was much better for health but Delta's dental and vision is better, for me anyways.

Not a Delta Plan. I don't use a company plan, just Tricare. There is no premium to pay with Tricare standard. Out of pocket costs can be made from a FlexSaver account. Total cost is much lower.

Not much to do with 'Military Presence." I believe that if a provider accepts Medicare (most do with the aging population) , they have to accept TRICARE. Once a retiree goes over 65, he switches to Medicare as primary with Tricare picking up the copay. t's a no brainer - no costs except perhaps a few prescription copays between $3.00 and $22.00 for a three month supply (Express Scripts).

What if Delta decides to cut medical costs, increase copay, etc in next contract ?

Been retired from military for 27 years. Would absolutely pick Tricare again.

THink WAY down the road on what your medical coverage will be when you fly your grandchildren around in your antique 2007 Cessna.