[HEALTH.MIL] Retirees - Check To See If You Will Lose 'Prime'

From: HEALTH.MIL@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <HEALTH.MIL@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:35:32 -0600
Check To See If You Will Lose 'Prime'

By TOM PHILPOTT

 

 

TRICARE PRIME ROLLBACK - TRICARE Management Activity has a new online tool for
retirees under age 65 and surviving spouses to verify if their Prime network
will end Oct. 1, forcing them to use TRICARE Standard.

With the new fiscal year, managed care networks operating beyond 40 miles of
military treatment facilities or base closure sites will be halted under
next-generation TRICARE support contracts.  The change, to impact 171,000
beneficiaries, is intended to cut TRICARE costs for taxpayers.

At the website http://www.tricare.mil/psazip, TRICARE users can type in their
zip code and learn whether their Prime service area will exist after Sept. 30.
They also can find contact information for contractors and can sign up for email
alerts on additional changes planned to Prime service areas.

Of the three TRICARE regions in the United States, the South will be most
heavily impacted by rollback of managed care networks.  The contractor there,
Humana, now offers Prime everywhere across Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky (Fort Campbell area only), Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (excluding the El Paso area).  Effective Oct. 1,
Humana's networks will shrink to those within 40 miles of a military treatment
facility or of a base-closing site.

In North Region, military managed care for under-65 retirees and survivors will
end in these areas: Springfield, Mass. (into Connecticut); Kankakee, Ill.; Gary,
Ind.; Auburn, Mich.; St Louis, Mo.; Charlotte, Greenville, Raleigh/Durham,
Wilmington and Winston-Salem-Greensboro, N.C; Akron and Cincinnati, Ohio;
Pittsburgh, Pa. and Milwaukee, Wis.

In West Region, Prime networks will end in: Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis,
Minn., Springfield, Mo.; Eugene, Medford, Portland and Salem, Ore.; Portland and
Yakima, Wash, and the Outer Islands of Hawaii.

 

To send comments to the author about this article write to Military Update, P.O.
Box 231111, Centreville, VA, or email milupdate@xxxxxxx or on Twitter:
@Military_Update

 

To view\post comments posted on the Stars and Stripes website, please go to
http://www.stripes.com/news/civilian-furloughs-hit-hard-also-check-if-you-lose-p
rime-1.208997

 

 

-------

SOURCE:  Extracted from Stars and Stripes article "Civilian furloughs hit hard;
also, check if you lose 'Prime'" at
http://www.stripes.com/news/civilian-furloughs-hit-hard-also-check-if-you-lose-p
rime-1.208997

 

 

NOTE:  Mailing list archives, subscribe\unsubscribe instructions and useful
website links are available at the "Links For MIL\RET\VETS" website at
http://www.hostmtb.org
[HEALTH.MIL] Retirees - Check To See If You Will Lose 'Prime'

Other related posts:
