Tester130

I haven't been able to find a solid answer on what folks should do or are required to do when it comes to medical coverage when retiring from the military and going to an airline.

I've heard that you (and your family) are covered by your military retirement medical plan and that you can decline medical coverage from your airline (and save yourself thousands).

I've also heard that if you are offered medical coverage from your post retirement employer that you are required to sign up for it.

Going to a regional for what could potentially be a few years, I'm hoping that we can decline the airline program and just use our military coverage. Does anyone know for sure or where I can find an answer?

rickair7777

Private sector, you can (and in most cases should) use tricare.

I think federal government civilian employees are required to use the federal civilian system.

ugleeual

Under most circumstances use Tricare Prime or Standard and decline your company insurance. If you carry any medical insurance (other than a Tricare Supplement) it becomes the primary and Tricare becomes the secondary. Unless your company medical is free then this is not a good plan.

Kikuchiyo

I've never heard anything about being required to use an employer's healthcare. I'm at my fourth airline post-retirement and have never used any of their insurance plans. In fact my current airline pays me extra to NOT use their plan, and as a single guy, their payments to me are more than my TriCare premiums for both medical and dental combined.

You'll likely find that Tricare is significantly cheaper than the health insurance an airline offers, but if you also need/want dental I've found that employer plans are usually better and cheaper than Tricare dental for retirees.

Flyinhigh

Before you commit to the Tricare only option, be sure that all of the doctors and other facilities in your area accept Tricare assignment. If they don't accept it or suddenly decide to drop it, you could be in for quite a shock. You may not be able to get on your company's coverage until their next open enrollment period.
Let me give you an example: recent hospital ER visit was billed at $5,361.71. This hospital accepted Tricare so the Tricare allowed amount was $1,053.50 and the hospital takes the write off for $4,308.21. If they did not accept Tricare you would have to pay the entire bill, file Tricare on your own and would only get reimbursed the $1,053.50 minus the cost share of $210.70. Plus, only the $1,053.50 would go towards the $3,000 Tricare catastrophic cap.
With the current administration in Washington I think Tricare will be okay for the near future and providers should not be dropping out of the program. During the previous administration with all of the health care things going on in Washington, I kept my wife on Company Retiree Health Insurance just to be safe (I am retired so I am on Medicare and Tricare For Life).
Just some food for thought. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Sputnik

I cannot imagine how your employer could force you to take their insurance. Or why they would want to (they are paying for it). Tricare is nice, had my family on standard whole time I was in, added myself once I retired. In the 5 places we've lived never had trouble finding providers (full transparency there were times we had to call a couple docs before finding one that would take it, but we always found someone good without a problem). Certainly worth calling around before making the decision.

Tricare dental and vision are not good, so I pay for my employer plan there. Seems to be pretty common.

While I dig my retired pay, just I don't think about it much. Each and every time we rack up something medical I feel very fortunate that we have Tricare.

Good luck

hyde

I was just told today that either my employer or my union (teamsters which provides the health care plan) is going to require me to buy into their plan and pay for it each month even though I don't need or want it because I'm covered under tricare.

Anyone have factual knowledge as to whether this is legal? Sources to cite?

Seems pretty f-ed up.

satpak77

FEHB, which for 99% of us is Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal

Grumble

You can stick with tricare and decline employer sponsored plan, true statement. Also true it will more than likely be the best coverage for the money.

May be an ACA thing for the employer requiring them to provide it. You may need to show proof you're covered for them to be clear.

Sputnik

Who told you? Call the union and ask them. Or HR.