Tricare For Life Contact Number – Over the years, I have often been asked to create a video and write a blog post about how Medicare partners with Tricare for Life. I was hesitant to do this because TRICARE for Life is a government program. Insurance agents are not allowed to sell TRICARE for life insurance. I can only express my opinion as a licensed agent with over thirty years of financial services experience. I am not a TRICARE for Life representative.

Although I cannot directly assist you with your TRICARE or ChampVA, I can help you understand how TRICARE for Life works with Medicare or ChampVA and how you can avoid a potentially serious mistake. That’s what I’m going to do here.

Tricare For Life Contact Number

There is an insurance company that has decided in recent years to market directly to our veterans. This insurance company, which markets directly to veterans and their families, has developed many educational materials to help individual agents understand the products and market.

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Unfortunately, they are fighting an uphill battle. In some cases, these are representatives who have not read or looked at the material provided to them. In other cases it is a fight against greed. It is a fight against those who are income hungry and put their commissions before your health.

This is a serious inconvenience to me and my recent interactions with other Medicare representatives that most motivated me to write this post today. My parents had TRICARE for Life insurance. My father was a career Marine. He and my mother died and are buried together in Arlington National Cemetery. Both of their end-of-life situations were medically complex. In both cases, their end-of-life care was made much easier because they had TRICARE for Life instead of a Medicare Advantage Plan.

What I will do here is give you a brief answer and then give you a more detailed and important explanation.

If you have TRICARE for Life or ChampVA, my view, and the view of the insurance company I reference, is that you keep your TRICARE or ChampVA and keep Original Medicare. Don’t replace your Medicare with a Medicare Advantage plan, don’t replace your TRICARE or ChampVA with a Medicare supplement, and don’t have a stand-alone Medicare Part D plan.

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I believe you cannot improve your healthcare by breaking your TRICARE. If you replace your original Medicare with an Advantage plan, you are actually reducing your coverage and increasing your financial risk.

For TRICARE for Life to be active, you must also have Original Medicare. These are Medicare Part A (hospital care) and Medicare Part B (outpatient care). Just like a Medicare supplement plan, Original Medicare becomes your primary insurer and Tricare becomes your secondary insurer. Tricare is free for life. You won.

The most important part of all of this, and why I made this video, is that Original Medicare, that red, white and blue Medicare card, is your primary insurance.

Why is it important for Original Medicare to remain your primary insurance? Because you can keep your original Medicare benefits.

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First, since your primary insurance is original Medicare, you’re not limited to any one network. As long as you accept Original Medicare, you can consult any doctor or visit any medical facility in the country. This is nearly every doctor and every medical facility in the United States. or United States territory. There are very few exceptions.

Second, no insurance company can interfere with your care. Your medical decisions are up to you and your doctor. Medicare and TriCare aim to cover everything medically necessary. The doctor does not need to get prior approval from the insurance company. If you want to consult a specialist, there is no need for a doctor’s advice. No insurance company can slow down or stop medical care under its own internal rules. All medical decisions are up to you and your doctor.

When you have original Medicare, TRICARE for Life and Medicare work side by side so your maximum annual financial risk is limited to almost zero. In fact, the only cost of inpatient or outpatient services will be if TRICARE approves a treatment that Medicare does not. I’ve never seen it, but it might be possible. In this case, TRICARE will likely cover the service for a small out-of-pocket fee. See online TRICARE benefit information for specific details. Below is a link to the government website.

As I said before, TRICARE for life is like a Medicare supplement plan on steroids. Your TRICARE includes prescription drug coverage in addition to standard Medicare add-on benefits. You don’t want to get a separate Medicare Part D plan. In fact, this could hurt your TRICARE, especially your ChampVA.

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By the way, did you know that the drug coverage you have through TRICARE is not subject to the costly coverage gap that is a feature of Medicare prescription drug coverage? You don’t have a coverage gap, no donut hole to deal with like in Part D.

One of the best advantages of TRICARE that I appreciate is that it provides important healthcare services abroad. Medicare operates only in the United States and US territories. Some Medicare supplement plans offer limited emergency coverage if you’re abroad. If you have TRICARE for life and you travel or move abroad, TRICARE will be your primary health insurance abroad. Very good.

So what prompted me to make this video and what was the problem I had with other Medicare agents or brokers?

Let’s start with the basic question. Many Medicare-focused insurance agencies are struggling to make ends meet. Others do not take the time and effort to understand insurance products before selling them.

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Insurance agencies do not and cannot sell TriCare. On the other hand, Medicare Advantage plans pay the highest commissions of all Medicare products. So when a person with TRICARE asks for help, instead of just telling them they have a great plan, some agencies try to find a way to sell an Advantage plan and make it look like you’re gaining insurance. Not you.

The only thing an insurance agent can do to increase your coverage is to offer you a dental plan. There’s not a lot of money in this business.

So what is a sales proposition? They are trying to sell a Medicare Advantage plan based on what I call shiny objects. These are plan features that have nothing to do with your underlying health needs. These could be dental benefits, a gym membership, a free Uber to the doctor’s office, or even a refund of part of your Part B premium. All these shiny objects show up when you have to give up a significant portion of your basic healthcare. But the sales rep totally emphasizes this.

The presentation usually goes like this; The representative will explain how to switch from an Original Medicare plan to a Medicare Advantage plan. A zero-premium plan that often includes dental insurance or gym membership. They will tell you that you can keep your TRICARE because it is still secondary insurance, but that it is to your advantage because you now have dental insurance.

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When you switch your Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, you lose the two Original Medicare benefits mentioned above.

First, you will no longer be able to see any healthcare providers in the United States as long as they accept Medicare. You will now be limited to your Medicare Advantage plan’s provider network. Seeing out-of-network providers may be too expensive or may not be allowed under your Advantage Plan.

Second, instead of your healthcare decisions being between you and your doctors, the insurance company now directs your healthcare. This is important. Your doctor will need permission from your insurance company for any procedure or treatment. The insurance company may deny the transaction or delay it for up to two weeks. I’ve seen it done for urgently needed chemotherapy and even dialysis and organ transplants.

If you want to learn more about the disadvantages of Medicare Advantage plans, check out my article “Disadvantages of Medicare Advantage.”

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In another article, I talk about the Inspector General’s Report, actually two reports. The Inspector General of Health and Human Services wrote an original report on Medicare Advantage plans, published in 2018, that showed insurers routinely deny consumer services as a tactic to increase profits.

When you have a Medicare Advantage plan, your doctor cannot perform a procedure without your doctor’s permission. Except in emergencies, of course. For other procedures, the insurance company may say no and let you fight for your health insurance.

The inspector general then followed up the 2018 report with a report released in 2022. The latest study found that nothing had changed. The way Medicare compensates Medicare Advantage plans encourages them

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