I will retire from the Navy at the end of August. Every TRICARE rep that I have spoken with has recommended that we go with TRICARE Standard, since we plan to travel.

My wife is on coumadin and will no longer be able to have her coumadin managed by Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth. She has a home monitoring device, but needs to have someone to report her INR to and manage her coumadin therapy.

Is anyone else out there in a similair situation, and if so, can you offer any suggestions?

We have not started searching for a solution yet, because the TRICARE reps tell me that there is nothing that we can do until I actually retire. They also tell me that part of the beauty of TRICARE Standard is that we can choose our own provider. In the next breath they tell me that almost no providers accept TRICARE Standard. Hhhmmmmmmm.......

Or does this fall under a pre-existing condition that will not be covered????

Or?????

Anybody out there "been there, done that"?

Thanks.

I'm a little confused here. Someone has to write the prescription for the coumadin, so why not report your results to that doctor who can then adjust the dosage.

However, if she has her own at-home monitoring device, she should be trained to adjust her coumadin herself to keep it within range. Just like a diabetic gets a sliding scale of how much insulin to inject based on blood sugar levels, she should be able to do the same with the coumadin.

DH's one doctor wants us to go on this system at some point because he believes DH should monitor and adjust his own coumadin level. In fact, he believes he should get his own results now and adjust, but labs won't give us the results. . . insist on it going to a doctor. We typically have next day service, but sometimes we have to call a couple days later to get results. Kind of defeats the purpose when your blood levels are out of whack.

Dale

Been on Tricare Standard with a MOAA supplement for years with no problems. Been through the whole cancer routine as well as other set backs with no problems. Have not had any problems finding doctors here in the Atlanta area. Tricare pays and then MOAA pays without any paperwork on my part once the deductables are met. With Tricare you have a max $3000 a year out of pocket cost and then they pay all.

Unless the Navy Medical Center will continue taking care of your wife after retirement you may need to find a physician that will see both of you and refer you to other specialists as required. When I retired it was too much of a hassle to use the military doctors although the lab and X-ray departments continued to provide good service.

Mine is a family care physician and I have a general order for my INR test that I take once a month unless it gets out of whack. I could take that request to a military lab and have the results faxed back to the doctor but the nearest military facility is 50 miles away.

My physician also gave me a chart that lets me determine how much Coumadin I take per day based on the INR level. Her office just calls and tells me how many milligrams to take a week and then chart gives the daily dosage for each day.