Max Medical Appointment Waiting Times for Tricare? Refer off Base?

Question

I am a military dependant. I'm having a horrible time getting an appointment with the on base dermatologist. It's taken over two months just to get an appointment scheduled, and it isn't for another five weeks from now. I have asked for an off base referral, due to the long waiting time and have been refused. I used to be active duty and remember the "tricare standards of care" which said you should be able to be seen for urgent care in 24hrs, routine 7 days, physicals 3 weeks and specialists 28 days. I always thought that if they couldn't fit you in in those time frames they had to let you go off base? Am I wrong here? Isn't 90+ days a little absurd to wait for an appointment? Do I have any recourse in making them let me go off base (without having to pay 100% myself)? The appointment is for an ongoing condition and I don't want to have to wait this long everytime I need treatment.

Answer 1

One of the reasons for the delays is that alot of care providers are deployed. I am in the same situation, except I am in the military. As far as getting a referral, that isn't a Tricare issue. They will pay if you can get the military to give the referral. How to get them to give a referral is the problem. I don't know how you can go about that or who to contact. I do know that as a dependent you can switch your Tricare coverage from Prime to Standard, which allows you to go off base anyway, but the cost isn't covered 100% by tricare, you'll have a percentage that you'll have to pay. If you can't get a referral then you might look into switching your coverage and finding out how much of the costs will be covered.