<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hello List Mates,

Wondering if any of you are a military family and have any experience with
the military medical plan Tricare (formerly Champus)?

I am a confirmed celiac (and active duty in the Coast Guard - diagnosed at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC).  We have twins born in
1997.  We had always discussed testing them with our pediatrician, and he
convinced us to wait until they were at least two, unless they had any
obvious symptoms.  They never had anything alarming, one twin seemed to have
frequent constipation, while the other had rather frequent loose stools, but
growth was well above average, as was everything else.

When they were two, we had blood drawn for the anti endomysial test.  They
were still having the same GI symptoms, and growth was dropping on the
charts.  Since they were having GI symptoms, growth was slowing, and they
are at 1 in 10 risk based on the positive diagnosis of their father, I,
along with their doctor, believe this was a perfectly essential step in
their medical care.  (By the way, tests were negative.  They are both more
regular now, but do not put much effort into eating, a common trait of three
year olds I understand.)

Tricare said they will not cover their blood tests, because they do they do
not cover "screening"!  (If this is "screening", then I would assume showing
up at your doctor with a sore throat, and he chooses to test for strep,
would also be "screening" under the logic they applied to my claim?) The
bill is about $240 for the both of them, and I expect they will be tested
periodically throughout the rest of my military career, as will their new
little sister.  This is going to add up over the years, and unfortunately,
military members do not have any choice of medical insurance providers.  We
cannot choose as can regular federal employees.  I can't even offer to pay
the corporate employee rate for a plan like Blue Cross.  We are stuck with a
company that has no competitors.  Rather frustrating that my kids don't get
access to any plans that cover civilian federal and private industry
workers, but that's another issue.

I am wondering if any of you had the same experience with Tricare, and their
varying definitions of "screening", and what was the result?

Thank you.

John Cameron, LCDR, USCG
Standish, Maine