Reply #2: I am in that Red State and I can personally vouch for how much it sucks!

[peacebaby3]

I've often laughed when I have heard things about how people in the military have it made because of benefits (which are not free...we have to pay) because I know how poor they are. Granted, there are many Americans without insurance so I don't want to complain too much, but I would say TRICARE is about one step above no insurance. The thought of depending on them when I am older or if, God forbid, my husband or I had a life threatening illness horrifies me.

The combo of this insurance and the stupid Dr's. on base/post is really scary. One Dr. diagnosed my husband with a venereal disease when he actually had a kidney stone. While fighting TRICARE to get care off post since there wasn't a urologist on post and we lived an hour and a half away, my husband had a severe attack in the middle of the night so I rushed him to the emergency room, but since it wasn't TRICARE approved, they wouldn't pay. They said if we were worried about payment, we should have driven an hour and a half to the post hospital. If anyone here has had a kidney stone attack, you will probably understand why you wouldn't want to drive an hour and a half just to get to some relief.

It is really hard for me to imagine the troops that have been injured in combat trying to deal with these people! Thank God my husband wasn't injured while in Iraq!