Alright, I kind of went at it w/ a conservative today.

[southernyankeebelle]

113. Well you make some good points. But I will tell you I have seen both sides of this issue. There

are good and there are bad. I can remember trying to get my son an appointment to see a doctor. I kept calling over and over til one time I got into my car and went over to the hospital and walked into the clinic and made my son an appointment in person. Sometimes that is frustrating. But the military motto that you hurry up and wait is something you get use to. I didn't it when my dad was in the military for 22 yrs and I did it when my husband was in for 20 yrs. You do what you have to do. Just like in civilian hospitals good and bad.

I remember my dad's experience back in 1970 in a VA hospital. He was very ill and they couldn't tell you what was wrong with him. They finally had a board from John Hopkins look into his problem. They finally found a spot on his lower colon. They were going to do surgery but he died before they could. He bleed to death. The one thing my mom kept saying was this one nurse was giving him a hard time. You see he would get these high fevers and he would get delusional and would say things about seeing his mother and sister both who died already. But when he was out of that state he was the sweetest person and didn't want to bother anyone. There was a brain patient in the next bed and he would help him when he needed something. They were short staffed. Once he asked the nurse for a wheelchair. She told him to get it. My mother remembered that. When she went back to get his cloths many of the staff came over and hugged her. She told that nurse in private the next time someone asks you to get something do it. She didn't know what to say. He was 50 yrs old. Left 2 small children under the age of 11.

My youngest brother had a lot of ear infections. Finally the had surgery done on his ear. The doctor was over an 1 hour late and my little brother was 4 yrs old. He was scared to death and crying. They finally put him under opened his ear then the doctor closed it without doing anything. This particular doctor should have been kicked out of the army because of screwing up many patients I found out later. They had to bring in a specialist from Walter Reed to do his ear because the other doctor screw it up. When this doctor told my little brother to whistle he was able to. The doctor had tears in his eyes. Because he was worried that there would be nerve damage. Thank god it didn't happen.

My son had several ear infections and had 3 surgeries for those tubes to be put in his ears. They did a great job. When he turned 14 yrs old he ended up having his tonsils taken out at Walter Reed again. They were very nice people but when I took him home he wasn't getting better. He had a fever. I ended up taken him to the ER at the military hospital at 7:00 in the morning. When I got there the Sgt said to take him to peditracis. Which I did. When I got there the said take him to the ER. I told her they told me to come here. The COL head of the clinic came out of his office and told me to come in and he looked at my son. He had gotten strep throat while he was at the hospital. Well he give him the right medicines.

Then when we were on active duty my husband wanted a vasectomy. We got lost the first time going to Walter Reed. We ended up missing the appointment and it was to late to reschedule because we were going overseas. It ended up the regular doctor wouldn't do the procedures because of his religion. Needless to say we were pretty pissed off. However he sent us to family practice doctor and he did the procedure.

So now that we are retired I have to say I love my Tricare Primary. I get excellent care and my primary doctors send me to the right doctors. Believe me I see a lot of doctors now that I am older. Next year I will go on Medicare plus I will have cover of military care.


There are good and bad in all plans. I can honestly say I like my civilian care better than my military care. By the way when I was working with civil service I did have my own private insurance. I didn't delivery my child in a military hospital. I went the first 2 times. It was like a cattle call. They a chairs against the wall. The first place was your weight and then you went down the line. I felt it was a terrible experience. I am glad I ended up in a civilian hospital. But I met my doctor at the military hospital. I asked him if he had a private office off base. He did and I started going there. I didn't regret it. I had a lot of serious health issues.