Tricare (Army Healthcare)

Running Head : TRICARE

TRICARE and the Military Health System

Name

Affiliation

TRICARE and the Military Health System

The Department of Defense military personnel is composed of the uniformed services - Army , Navy , Marines and Air Force and also includes the National Guard , Coast Guard and reservists . In terms of population active duty personnel and their dependents number approximately 3 .3 million while military retirees and their dependents number 40 million (Almond , Kahwati , Kinsinger and Porterfield , 2008 Segal and Segal 2004

The Department of Defense responds to the health care needs

of its members through the operation of 450 domestic and overseas military treatment facilities (MTF 's ) - 91 of which are hospitals (rand .org 2002 . MTF 's are supplemented by a network of civilian health care professionals established through contracts between the DoD and private managed-care organizations (mbsys .us , 2008 . Other providers outside of the network may also be accessed

The military health system described above is distinct because of its two related goals - to develop and sustain the capacity to offer medical care in times of military operations and to offer the same as benefits to active duty personnel and their families . Health care benefits delivery , conducted primarily by the MTF 's , continues until retirement and beyond

Health care benefits are accessed through the TRICARE , a set of benefits plans which provides options for MTF or provider managed-care and fee-for-service . Its 19 .1 million beneficiaries include not only the Uniformed Services in active duty but also the following subgroups...