soon to be fulltime RVer questions

danen9 wrote: Hi Larry,Thank you so much for answering my questions. I have alot of concerns and the closer it gets to this new lifestyle for my wife and I the more pressing it seems. Do the retirees you know prefer to use the base clinics and hospital services or is it easier to use civilian medical. Most of our concerns require seeing behavioral health. Thank you again for your kindness! Daniel Enix

Maybe others will chime in here.

We ONLY use civilian medical care. For us, it's MUCH easier. We have Tricare Standard and have been told 3 times at base clinics that we can't use the base medical. But we can use ANY civilian physician we want, without getting a referral or permission. This makes it easy to get medical care while traveling. The only real hassle is filling out the medical forms each time, as each physician considers you a "new" patient. However, in the past few years, we have been returning to the Phoenix area for the holidays with our daughter. We decided to see the same family physician and get annual tests done during this time. Less forms to complete. But we still get needed tests done and see other doctors (if needed) when traveling.

We're getting ready to semi retire and I am curious if it is worth while getting Tricare supplement insurance to help offset the costs when using Tricare Standard. If so do you have any suggestions from past experience on the best insurance carrier for the supplemental. Thank-you.

kschultz wrote: We're getting ready to semi retire and I am curious if it is worth while getting Tricare supplement insurance to help offset the costs when using Tricare Standard. If so do you have any suggestions from past experience on the best insurance carrier for the supplemental. Thank-you.

In my opinion, it depends on if you'll need to use medical quite a bit. Judge the difference in the cost of the supplement to what your out-of-pocket share would be for medical service.

My wife and I see our family physician once or twice a year, have a couple normal yearly tests done, see a cardiologist once a year, and have a CAT scan once a year. In 2012, our out-of-pocket cost was a little under $1100 for the year on medical services (this includes medications). Our yearly average over the past 8 years (since fulltiming) is $850 a year. I would need to consider the cost of the supplemental insurance and see if I would save anything. Currently, I don't use a supplement.

Remember, there is still a $3000 sending cap on Tricare Standard (last I knew). This is the most we would spend out-of-pocket in a year on medical care. After that, Tricare covers us 100%.

Larry, what state is Escapees RV Club mailing service in? I really want to use Idaho for insurance purposes. Though my home until i sell it is in Texas

nisd221n wrote: Larry, what state is Escapees RV Club mailing service in? I really want to use Idaho for insurance purposes. Though my home until i sell it is in Texas

They are in Livingston, TX.

While looking for a lower place for auto and RV insurance, I checked Escapees for there city and USAA said the rates were no different than San Antonio. I was hoping it would be considerably lower. WRONG!