I HATE THE FREAKIN' MILITARY!!!!
Well, it's not quite the military I hate. Just its medical provider. Tricare. The name itself is enough to strike fear into the hearts of dependents around the world. *shudder*
Today I called a local doctor for a GYN appointment (blecch). I asked her if she takes Tricare Prime, and she tells me I need a referral. Hmm, I don't know what the process is, let me call Tricare. The receptionist told me to call the number on the back of my Tricare card. OK, great. Where's my Tricare card?
In the big wallet. And where's the big wallet?? Who knows -- I just moved a couple weeks ago!! It's going to take YEARS to figure out where everything is!!!
Finally I gave up on looking and called my wife, but she wasn't home and her husband did his best trying to help me.
Then I found a number for the appointment line in the phone book, and I called that. I asked the lady all sorts of dumb questions because Kurt's taken care of everything up to now because I hate talking to people on the phone. She told me to call another number that would help me figure out what I needed.
So Orlando answers the phone. He said his name so cool; I can't reproduce it here. orLANdo... Something. Anyhow. He asks if I've been transferred, and I told him I'm pretty sure I have been since Kurt called Tricare a while ago and they told him everything's been taken care of, just go to a doctor of your choice that took Tricare.
I should have known.
Orlando informs me that no, I haven't been transferred, that I'm still region two where I need to be region eleven. And the only way to transfer my membership is to go all the way down to the naval hospital TWENTY MILES away and speak to a Tricare representative.
Which means the first Tricare lady LIED to Kurt.
And this is something I'm really seeing a lot of. People will lie to you on the phone when you call for info just so they can get off the phone with you and grab a latte. They don't CARE that they're giving you the wrong information, they really don't. And it's all industries, all customer service representatives. They just don't care. And they will LIE to you before they find out the answer for you.
So I have to waste my afternoon running around just to get a GYN appointment when I was told that everything was already taken care of.
GRRRR!!!
I hate Tricare.
It's amazing how the smallest things are hard to deal with when your hubby's away. So many times have I needed something that I don't know where it is, and I realize then that Kurt is thousands of miles away, ten hours ahead of me, and I have NO way of asking him where he put it. He was always just a holler or a phone call away. Now he's a lot further away. And every time I get one of those reminders, form the littlest things, that's when my heart really starts to ache.
Five months is such a long time...