That's what I thought, and if we do have to pay for my wife since she's under standard I can understand. But our newborn is under prime for 60 days so I don't know why she wouldn't be covered 100%.

Even if she is under standard, there are no co-pays at a military installation. I would just keep going back or calling until you get it taken care of. Tricare is notorious for being slow in getting things taken care of.

Even though there are no co-pays, I believe they still have to pay for food 3 meals a day if they eat them or not.

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

I was always told by tricare that they paid for the meals unless you are active duty *because you are getting BAS*

Has anyone attempted a "natural" birth at 121? That is, no medication, no intervention unless necessary to save life/limb, eating/drinking while in labor, labor & deliver in the position the mother desires?

Well I went to the tricare office on Osan and they called the 121. I guess in some army regs it says that dependents will pay for meals. My biggest gripe was that 121 sent us a bill/receipt so after we pay for the bill we arn't going to get another statement saying we owe a $.0 balance. But the guy at tricare said to submit the forms that we got and see what happens, he really didn't give me a firm answer since he wasn't sure if we were going to get reimbursed for the meals. I guess we were the first NCS that he knows of that has given birth at 121. And he's been doing this for a long time.

So for anyone giving birht at 121 make sure you get your moneys worth for meals. I actually think we did with the amount of formula and diapers we used during our stay. I think it's something like $14 a day for meals, per mother and child.

ITs funny... after I saw this today, my husband came home with 2 bills from 121 for my son and I. We only stayed for 2 days, so it was $60 each. He has to go to Tricare tomorrow, so I might have him talk to them about being reimbursed, as well. I know that I would have had to pay about $12 a day at a civilian hospital in the states if on standard, but was told that we would owe nothing to deliver at a military hospital.

It may not seem like a lot of money, but $60 would buy quite a bit of food for my family! Its bad enough that my husband is having almost all of his BAS taken away but never eats at the chow hall!

Doesn't the warning at the bottom of the bill make you question the bill?

"Payment of this bill is due upon receipt. You may inspect and copy government records related to this debt to the United States and question its validity or accuracy."

I wonder if they charge you based on your rank. I'm an E5 so we were charged $14.80 for 3 days so we paid $44.40 each.

Don't be suprised if you call them and they give you an attitude. My wife called and they gave her an attitude when she called to ask for a receipt and they also gave an attitude to the tricare guy here at Osan.

I had a "natural" birth at 121. I labored at the Storks Nest though. I think I only had about 20 minutes at 121 before my son was born. Thank goodness! A friend of mine delivered naturally twice at 121 and said she was made to lie in the bed strapped to monitors both times and had to pee in a bedpan. She said it was standard procedure even without an epi.

Here's my 121 billing complaint.

I'm not tricare so I get billed from 121, pay out of pocket, and then file with my insurance for reimbursement. My son had a medical condition at birth and was transported to Samsung 3 hours after birth. Because of this I was discharged 12 hours after I was admitted. 1 ate 1 meal in that time. I had no epidural.

I received a bill for almost $4,000 for my son and over $4,000 for myself both of which were just labeled "inpatient charges" with no other descriptions. If I hadn't known I had just given birth I would have had no clue what they were for. When I asked for a broken down list of the charges (which is what my insurance wanted) I was told that they couldn't give me one. The lady in the finance office was really rude about it and said they only have a set rate across the board for every patient that included your medical care in the delivery room, your 2 days in the recovery room, the epidural, and all your meals, whatever newborn testing they do, and the newborn care for the 2 days. That would be fine and dandy but neither my newborn or I didn't get or use most of that so why did I have to pay for it. I should have been billed on the medical care we received. Not for 3 days worth of meals and lodging or an epidural I NEVER USED.

The sad part was my son's 10 day stay in the NICU and minor surgery at Samsung cost less then the 12 hours we spent at 121.