therightfangirl

I never do this. Ever. But this is real and it affects the lives of many military members and their families. Please help take action on this. Let everyone on your flists know. It IS important.

Taken from Military.com

Barring congressional action (HR 2785), the Medicare payment rate to physicians will be reduced by 10.6% in July of 2008. This directly affects TRICARE beneficiaries because TRICARE payment rate is based upon Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) update formula. This means that doctors will be forced to accept less money for medical procedures. In the past these reductions have caused doctors to turn away TRICARE patients and will likely do so again if the reduced payment rates are not blocked.

This issue will adversely affect survivors, retirees, members of the active-duty, Guard and reserve and their families, especially those living far from military installations. There are already some doctors in remote areas who refuse to see new TRICARE patients. Without congressional action to ensure these cuts don?t take effect, more doctors may chose to turn TRICARE beneficiaries away.

In short, if you don't understand - Tricare (the military health insurance) is looking at paying physicians LESS than 'normal' insurance providers. This means doctors would be taking cut rates when they take military members. Being a military wife myself I know that this means several things. First - a civilian doctor might not see you as mentioned above. But also, even if a civilian doctor DOES take you, it's likely the care will not be as good as others - we'll be deemed less important patients and may not receive the best care as a result.

The above link should take you to an actionable page where you can send letters to your representatives. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pass this around to everyone you know. It's really important for military members.