Navy not following Army's lead on health care

Navy not following Army's lead on health care
By Ed Friedrich
The (Bremerton, Wash.) KitsapSun
Published: May 3, 2014

Active-duty service members and their families are automatically enrolled in TriCare Prime, a health care program that costs them nothing and covers everything.

BREMERTON — Naval Hospital Bremerton officials want local sailors and their families to use their facilities, but, unlike Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, aren’t making them leave private doctors.

Lewis-McChord, after opening new clinics in Puyallup and Lacey within the past two years, has extra capacity. Active-duty families that were allowed to use their Tricare military health insurance to pay for care at private facilities when space was tight are getting letters telling them to come back. The Army says military-run clinics can better track patients’ medical needs and influence their health.

Naval Hospital Bremerton also sent letters, but they only encourage families to enroll.
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