Falling Through The Cracks
I read an article today about military spouse and family member suicide. The article talks about how these rates aren’t tracked by the military. The response is there’s too many to track. That’s appalling to me.
Sure, people cite the old stigma argument. If I seek help it’ll hurt my spouse’s career as a soldier. We all need to get over that so those who need help can feel free to seek it without retribution.
For me, my pet peeve lies with Tricare. The behavioral health coverage for families is not as good as it could be If you’re a soldier with mental health issues, your care is paid for. If you’re a family member, you’re pretty much screwed. When my husband was deployed and a traditional Guardsman, we were still driving an hour each way (think gas money) and $100 per visit for our oldest son to see a child psychologist for his issues. This is with Tricare coverage. I shudder to think what it costs without coverage.
Even now as an active duty family we will have copays in relation to our son’s new diagnosis. I was reading the Tricare pamphlets online. While Autism is not the same as a person who’s at risk for suicide, we’re still talking behavioral health care coverage for our military families that is lacking.
While we do need to remove what stigma remains around seeking mental health help, the military also needs to make sure it’s affordable for the family members who need it. People are more likely to seek help if it doesn’t mean the choice between a doctor’s visit or groceries.
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Maybe I’m naive about the whole military issue and health care in general and maybe I’m just too addicted to rose colored glasses, but I’ve always thought that military members and their families should have free health care. I would think it’s the least our country could do for the sacrifices they make.
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Growing up, we had military insurance (my dad was army) and my mother had insurance. Between the two, most medical issues were taken care of. Except things related to mental health. Its really sad.
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It would be awesome if health care were free for all military members. Sadly, this isn’t the case. When my husband was traditional Guard (what they say is 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year), we could buy into the military health care for a premium every month. Sure that premium was less than what his civilian employer was charging us, but it still all added up because very few doctors take Tricare when you’re not near a military installation. We often had to travel an hour one way for anything other than routine care. Even my OB/GYN was an hour away. With his civilian pay, health care costs were killing us. Military people often forget that their reserve component counter parts don’t make the same salary full time as active duty does, nor are they privy to the housing allowance, etc. I can’t even begin to imagine how the retired sector manages if they’re not near an installation.