Do you pay for Insurance in the AF?

Health Insurance is paid for by the military, if you have Tricare Prime. This means you must see base doctors or doctors Tricare has approved. We have Tricare Prime. In Texas I knew one girl who had Standard because she wanted to use a mid wife to deliver her baby and with Tricare Prime in my area of Texas that wasn't an option. (However over here there are a couple mid wives who work on base). If you opt to have Tricare Standard, then you can choose your own providers but you will pay a percentage. You can call Tricare directly to start your paperwork. It will take some time to process. Here is the link on my blog to their contact numbers.

When I say Health Insurance that includes Vision as well. I've seen Dermatologists, Pain Specialists, Neurosurgeons, Physical Therapists, Podiatrist etc. All covered 100%. It's great!

Dental is different. You can join United Concordia which is essentially a Tricare Dental plan through the military but you do pay a monthly fee. For a family of4, not including J, it costs us $30 a month. You do pay a percentage for work done outside your 2 cleanings a year. I don't remember exactly the percentage but when my daughter had a filling it costs us around $20 if I remember correctly. The active duty member is seen on base and their dental is covered 100%.

There are exceptions!! As a dependent some bases will see you in the Dental Clinic. It just can be extremely difficult to get in. But if you need major work done, like a root canal, and don't want to pay the percentage United Concordia will bill you, then you can try to make an appointment on base to get it done...for free. Some bases may have a policy that they don't see dependents simply because they are understaffed and have a difficult time as is filling their active duty members needs. It's always worth a try to call your base dental clinic to see if they have availabilities. I know several people that would go off base to get their cleanings done but whenever they had any work needed they would wait it out until they could be seen on base.



Another exception for dental is when living overseas! If you are stationed overseas your Dental is covered by the military. Again, it can be difficult to be seen on base but if you do have United Concordia while overseas they will cover more than they would if you lived in the states.