Minnesota / Veterans get more health care choices

01/30/2007

Associated Press
January 30, 2007


Another 4,200 doctors and 23 more hospitals will join a health network that serves active and retired military personnel and their dependents, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration said Monday.

The expansion of the TRICARE network should make it easier for 55,000 Minnesota enrollees to seek care closer to home. With the enlarged network, 40 percent of licensed physicians, or 4,702, in the state will take TRICARE patients, up from 3 percent last fall. Twenty-seven hospitals will be part of the network.

Last fall, Pawlenty charged two Cabinet officials with bringing more providers into the fold. He hailed the result as a dramatic expansion of the program.

"It was positive. It was thunderous. It was voluminous," Pawlenty said of the response.

Soldiers returning from federal deployments are entitled to six months of coverage under TRICARE and after that they can buy into the program in place of employer coverage. Dependents are covered while the soldier is deployed. Some military retirees also qualify.

National Guard Adjutant Gen. Larry Shellito said TRICARE's reimbursement rates are modest, sometimes 50 cents or less on the dollar for certain procedures. That, he said, is what makes the increased participation by clinics and health maintenance organizations more noteworthy.

"You might say it's not a good business decision," Shellito said. "It's a good civics decision."

Peter Bartling, chief executive officer at Minnesota Oncology Hematology P.A. in St. Paul, urged more providers to get into the mix.

"It is absolutely the least we can do to manifest our commitment to the men and women who support America and Minnesota and all we stand for," Bartling said.