Military and Birth Center? Is it possible?

[Shelsi]

I've seen lots of different answers. Right now I'm not even TTC (am waiting for dh to agree!) but I want to be prepared. I had a hospital birth last time but have become much more informed since then and would like a birth center birth. I'm in Tucson there's a birth center here and we do not have OB services on base so you always get referred to civilian care. There is another internet mommy friend of mine who lives here as well and she was told by Tricare that she could get all her prenatals and tests done at the birth center but that she HAD to give birth in a hospital or it wouldn't be covered. Then I read in some places about ppl having a birth center or even a homebirth covered by Tricare. So what's the answer? Does it depend on what region you are in? I'm Tricare Prime right now but would switch to standard if that made a difference.

I also thought I read somewhere that it was illegal to have a homebirth on base? I don't think I would want to go that route but if it was covered than I might consider it.

[grisaleen]

I think it depends on who attends the birth, not where it is. If you have a CNM who is a Tricare provider, then I believe they'll pay for her fees even if they won't pay for the birth center. If you are going with a midwife who is not a CNM (which is what I'm doing) you'll have to pay for it yourself. Stupid, I know.

Anyway, that's the gist of what I've been told, not that I fully trust them or understand. Tricare confuses me.

[dlm194]

I remember reading the Tricare book and they do cover midwives and homebirths. However, I think it gets more limited when you are using Prime since they want you to use network providers with Prime. I went to www.mytricare.com and logged on the West region (the link didn't work so I typed in https://www.triwest.com and did a search by city to find midwives. I found a number of midwives in the Tucson area that are in the Tricare network so I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be covered. I'd find a provider and then call Tricare to double check what's covered. I think that as long as you get authorization from your PCM, you should be okay.

It's a little easier with Standard since you can pretty much see anyone but your out of pocket costs may be slightly higher.

[dlm194]

This is from the Tricare handbook (which I found on www.triwest.com) by doing a search for birth:

New parents should register newborns in DEERS as soon as possible. To establish TRICARE eligibility for a newborn in DEERS, parents or legal guardians must submit a certificate of "live birth" from a hospital or birthing center. They must also provide a copy of a verified and approved DD Form 1172 "Application for Uniformed Services Identification and Privilege Card" signed by the sponsor.

[Shelsi]

Thanks so much for the info. At least there is some hope I just found the Henci Goer (sp?) book at the used book store today and after reading just a few chapters I want to avoid the hospital even more than before! If anyone has any more info to add even if it's just anecdotal I would love to hear it.