#WYFF - The Pharmacy

Michael gets healthcare through the VA. The kids and I have been Tricare Prime. There are NO Prime doctors in Crescent City, CA or Eugene, OR. These are two cities where we have grandparents and wouldn't mind visiting to take care of medical issues.  I called and talked with a Tricare rep who CONFIRMED we are not near a Prime area. We changed our insurance to be Standard. The big difference is we now have a $300 annual family deductible...but we do NOT have an annual family PREMIUM. Since we had to pay a co-pay for docs on Prime anyway,  this is about mox-nix. I'll track it for a year and see. With Standard we don't have to have a referral from a PCM to be seen at civilian docs, we DO have to find a doc who is a "network provider" to be most cost effective. I found a group here in town and made an appointment for Stacia. The rest of us will wait until October for a new fiscal year. It turns out the only Tricare provider in town (which I could find) is in a county community health center. This was a new experience for a child who has known nothing but military clinics her whole life. 

Another new experience was waiting 4.5 hours for our meds. This was NOT the pharmacy's fault. The doctor had not filled out the form correctly - during our wait we saw many others with the same problem. The pharmacy calls the doc and gets the info they need if a doc gives insufficient or incorrect info.....our doc wasn't returning calls. I called, they called, they faxed, and we waited. When it did go through, it was a drug Tricare wouldn't approve. We had been told it would be $100 - that will go a long way to our deductible. ::snort:: When it wasn't approved, the pharmacist found me an OTC med, same med/different name, for $20.  I think I get why Tricare said no to this one. LOL 

While in town, Stacia and I also bought groceries for Mom G, stopped by ST. Vinnies to deliver some things Mom G was ready to get rid of and picked up meds for Mom G.

We had been told Michael qualified for an expedited disability application with Social Security???? It sure doesn't seem like it would be a benefit. We can wade through the system and they'll deduct whatever they award from what the VA awarded. I ended the visit by telling them, "I don't believe we'll pursue Social Security assistance at this time."   This may be something to research. It didn't make a lot of sense to me.  The fun element of the visit was the security guard. As he was searching bags he noticed my folder with Beale AFB on it. Turns out he was a fire dog there in the 1980's. We had a great conversation. 

Thus went our Friday. Stacia and I didn't plan on being in town all day. We didn't finish that corner we began....but Michael and the boys did get a lot done outside. 

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. View more of our Friday exploits by clicking the #WYFF tab above.