Here is a success story built at the expense of the Military Healthcare system.
"TriWest fills insurance gaps in the military"
By Jodie Snyder, The Arizona Republic, Oct. 29, 2001
http://www.arizonarepublic.com:80/business/articles/1029triwest29.html
It makes interesting reading and explains why these guys show up at
military hospital change of command ceremonies in $3000 suits. They get
there driving new Mercedes...Notice the hospital commander doesn't go
out and hire a replacement doctor like they used to..Now they have to go
through a Tricare contractor.
You know in the Gulf War era, one of our brilliant doctors, Colonel Bob
Gilmore, sat up a hospital and staffed it in England with specialist
from all over the Military Health care System. The hospitals were
backfilled with reservists or by doctors hired downtown and the MTFs
never missed a beat. Retirees were still treated and the hospitals were
going concerns. Now, many look like cemeteries with lights with patients
being sent downtown to Tricare network doctors.
By the way, Dr Gilmore, former Hospital Commander at David Grant Medical
Center is now the top honcho at the American Medical Association in
Chicago. He is a cardiovascular surgeon and a graduate of the Air Force
Academy. While he was gone,during Desert Storm, his hospital was a top
performer and they didn't even know how to hardly spell Tricare in those
days....
The big tasker now is having all the military guys attend Tricare
meetings here and Tricare meetings there. I'll bet some of the top docs
and top wannabes spend a third of their time attending Tricare
meetings....
Well, now that we have a war, I may be exaggerating a little..but
history has a way of repeating itself. So do bad habits....
Congress should subpoena some of the world class surgeons cooling their
heels in Military Treatment Facilities and ask them why?? Why don't you
have any work, doc, with all these patients floating around?
This industry and the whole TRICARE contracting maffia need to be
audited by the GAO. Why doesn't it happen? Politically sensitive and a
BIG hot potato...
Money...Money... money spent in the right places.
When The Assistant Secretary of Defense was given the Military
Healthcare Budget instead of the Line Chiefs, the excuse was the
military did not know how to manage their healthcare system. Why is it
that the first people these Tricare Contractors hire when they retire
are the military hospital administrators. How did they become so smart
overnight when they were so dumb the day before?
I guess for the same reason that many of our smart people are hired by
the Rand corporation to do studies and reports...funny while these same
people were on active duty, they asked the Rand Corporation to write the
reports for them.
How did Dr Sue Bailey go from being a LTCMDR in the USNRMC to being the
numero uno honcho in the Department of Defense in charge of military
medicine..Funniest part was that when she was fired at DoD, as ASD(HA),
(ask Hillary and Bill why), she was made the Administrator for the
National Transportation Safety board and over night, yes overnight, she
became an expert in Firestone Tires and Ford Automobiles...her ex
husband (shipping magnet)also made giant contributions to the Democratic
National money machine. She also was a friend of Al's and Tipper. Good
friends in the right places....make a great manager.....hmmmmmm
money...money...money (the American Taxpayer's)
$$$ sure does make the world go round.