Being the spouse of an active duty U.S. Marine has its benefits, for sure. Of course, it also has its drawbacks. I have a little of both on my mind at the moment.
One major benefit is that I have very good health coverage, for a decent price. Our premium is $28.00/month. The most I pay for a prescription is $3.00/30 day supply, and I usually don’t have to pay that. Prescriptions filled at a base pharmacy are free. I have access to world class medical professionals–providers who are federal employees (or are military themselves) and are salaried. They don’t prescribe pills just because they had a visit from the drug rep and they aren’t concerned about profits, so their advice isn’t guided by an ulterior motive.
There is a catch, (or two) of course.
Despite access to free, routine reproductive health care–including birth control (an IUD for me), well-woman exams, STD testing/treatment, prenatal care, excellent obstetrics services as well as any number of support programs–information, counseling, classes, etc. on everything from healthy lifestyle choices to infant & toddler care–my health coverage doesn’t include abortion services.
Wellllllllllllll, it does, but only in cases where the life of the mother is threatened. Like everything else about TriCare (the health insurance program that covers military dependents), their website succinctly outlines the limits of abortion coverage:
Abortions
TRICARE covers abortions only when the life of the mother is at risk. The attending physician must certify that the abortion was performed because the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.
TRICARE does not cover:
Services and supplies related to a noncovered abortion
Counseling, referral, preparation and follow-up for a noncovered abortion
Abortions for fetal abnormality or for psychological reasons
Selective reduction of multi-fetal gestations
On its face, it makes sense. TriCare is a federal program and, as of the 1976 Hyde Amendment (effective 1977), the federal government is prohibited by law from paying for abortion services.
It still pisses me off. To be clear–I believe that elective abortion services should be covered by all health insurance plans–public, private, state, federal, or otherwise. The question of federal funding for abortion services takes on a few additional dimensions, however, when we are talking about the spouses of active duty military members.
First, abortions can not be performed at military facilities/hospitals. For many wives, the nearest/only facility we have access to is a military one. This means that, even if we can afford to pay for it ourselves (a problem, particularly for the spouses of lower ranking enlisted–many of whom qualify for welfare benefits, even once you account for the additional pay and benefits received by military families for housing, etc.), we may not be able to find a local provider to perform the procedure.
Second, TriCare’s policy is so narrow, it even excludes abortion in cases of rape or incest–provisions that everyone but the most extreme “pro-lifers” agree with–which means that women who depend on TriCare to cover their health care costs are more vulnerable to being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, even after they have been abused and traumatized.
Third, TriCare’s policy doesn’t include a provision for cases where the fetus is not viable outside the womb. This means that a military dependent who discovers that her pregnancy won’t result in a healthy baby, as she might wish, but instead, in the possible delivery of a fetus that, if it survives at all, will be in pain and/or won’t live very long after its birth. I, personally, can’t imagine the terrible pain I would feel if I knew I were carrying a child that would be in pain or would not survive after it left my body.
And, as every military spouse knows, there is a distinct possibility that we will go through these things alone. In all likelihood, our husband will be deployed and we will be on our own.
These things make me angry. I get even more angry when I think about the hypocrisy of all of this. Ask any right wing anti-choice activist (and every single Congressperson) and they will tell you that our military men and women are the defenders of our FREEDOM! They are the ones that keep America safe, and they are the ones that make the Ultimate Sacrifice so that you and I can be FREE! *can I get a Hallelujah!*
No matter what your feelings are about the military and the degree to which they Defend Our Freedom–the fact is, their wives and dependents, like civilian women, are not free. Despite the sacrifices of our families, despite thousands of dead and wounded–just in our two current conflicts–the right, and particularly anti-choice zealots, have been enormously successful at limiting our reproductive choices, all the while raising their collective voices in a cacophony of flag-waiving, support-our-troops-magnet sporting, flag pin-wearing bullshit.
Anti-Choice forces are all about our troops–unless their wives want an abortion. Then, well, your husband must not be fighting for your freedom, honey, he is fighting so you can be forced to give birth, or so that you, at least, have to give up your grocery budget for the foreseeable future so you can pay for your own baby killin’.
There are exceptions, of course–factions of the anti-choice movement that are also anti-war, anti-military, even anti-death penalty. But by and large, the same people that have no problem with overturning Roe, or with making sure that abortions are not funded by federal tax dollars, or with protesting at abortion clinics, or with limiting abortion in any way they can, do, by golly, Support Our Troops.
Mrs. Mastro, this is a great point. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make the connection between the military and access to choice.
I think you make a great point about the quality of care that you receive on the base – and I think it needs to be extended to the debate about health care reform. Doctors who are on a fixed salary, who don’t have to worry about insurance reimbursements, are much more likely to spend time diagnosing and treating the whole patient, rather than shuttling people in and out the door with a prescription for the latest designer drug. For all these wing nuts bitching about government-run health care, I say look at the VA hospitals and Medicare – the government is already all up in the health care business.
As to your points about choice – yes, if you’re dependent on the military for your health care, you absolutely have every right to expect access to the full range of health care options. Like you said, you sacrifice time with your spouse. The least the government can give you in return is the ability to make decisions about your body.
It’s so odd that I read this article today. Just last night I had a conversation with my roommate, a former member of the Air Force.
She was pregnant with a fetus that tested positive for spina bifida. Then, the bleeding started. Military physicians would not induce labor because it would be considered an abortion. After seeing an off-base doctor (who spoke little English, as she was in Japan), she was told that she MUST induce labor, or she would die of an infection – basically giving her hours to live.
Labor was induced, and the child was stillborn.
Beyond the obvious misogyny in the military, this example proves how fucked up an institution our military is.
Freewomyn–Reproductive choice is but one area where the freedoms of our military are limited. For example, one of the powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act allows the NSA to record the calls of US military while they are overseas. There have been several cases where the service person has been talking to their significant other–say having phone sex–and the people listening to the calls have broadcast the recording or shared it with their friends, simply to get a laugh.
What makes me so mad about it is the hypocricy–if you are a supporter of the military then you should support the right of a military couple to have phone sex in private. And you should support my right to make reproductive choices.
If you are against abortion and you don’t want government money to pay for it, fine. But don’t run around saying that my husband is defending freedom–because right now, he is mostly defending your right to be a moron, not my right to control my own body.
I could go ON AND ON about the care I get from the military. That pisses me off too! Especially since I heard today that Obama is considering dropping the public option from health care reform. If the public option is so bad, then how come it is the plan that we military families get? Again, if the right is ever so supportive of the military, then they should make sure we have the best health care available–not the socialist government program Obama is pushing
Amy–I am so sorry to hear that your friend had to go through that. Sadly, she is not alone. But cases like hers are only one reason why reproductive choice is such an important issue!
The funny thing about freedom is that, if you are going to have any chance at defending your own, you have to be willing to defend the freedom of others–even if you don’t agree with them. So when the right waves its flags and sticks “Freedom Isn’t Free” magnets on their cars, they will eventually have to realize that their freedom is dependent on mine, or they will look like the hypocrites they are.
It’s our job to call them out on it.
Oh, I totally agree about the possibility of dropping the public option. If there’s no public option, wtf is the point, and how is the “new plan” different from the status quo? You’re going to regulate insurance companies? Yeah right.
Obama’s snafoo last week about Fed Ex, UPS, and the Post Office was pretty terrible. How can you say a government option would be good if you just slammed public servants? He needs to stick to pre-written talking points ONLY.
Mrs. Mastro,
Awesome post. I completely agree with you. My boyfriend is in the Army and I have heard about some of the things fellow army wives have told me. They often don’t have a problem with it but they’re not quite hardcore feminists like me.
But, is it true that they listen in on your phone calls?! Outrageous! My boyfriend deploying in a month! I gotta remember to be careful about what I say to him on the phone…
Freewomyn–Exactly! I am not sure what good “health care reform” will be if it doesn’t include a public option! Not having one basically turns potentially meaningful health care reform into a mandate that the uninsured find (and subsidize, to varying degrees) a bastard insurance company to pay to cover them. It just makes me crazy!
I didn’t hear about the post office snafu. He does need to be careful, though. This issue has really brought out the crazies–like the guy who stood up in a town hall meeting and yelled “Get your government hands off my Medicare!” Wow.
Personally, I think its pretty amazing that the post office can take a letter, add $0.42 and have it to my sister (2200 miles) in two days. They do an awesome job and they put up with an enormous amount of crap!
Caitlin–Best of luck to you and your sweety! Deployments, etc, are hard enough without having to worry about extra health care costs, etc.
As to phone calls, my husband and I always assume that our phone calls are recorded, even when he is stateside! Cell phone communications, in particular, are considered (for legal purposes, as well as in terms of security) broadcast communications–therefore anyone who wants to listen doesn’t really have a high burden to meet. Same goes for email, snail mail and IM.
If you are interested in knowing more about how to make your communications more secure, drop me an email
I can send you links and info.
I beg to differ that abortions can not be performed at miliatry facilities. In fact, in 1976 my military doctor told me I was too young to be pregnant and then perform the worst pelvic exam I’ve ever had in my 55 years. An hour later, I miscarried my unborm child in the toilet! My husband at the time thought perhaps it was a mistake and that we couldn’t do anything about it.
A month later, I was pregnant again, but this time I did an over the counter pregnancy test to confirm it before going back to that facility. They were astonished to see me again, little surprise. But this time there was nothing they could do about it. What am I suggesting? that abortions were carried out somewhat regularly in military facilities. Being young an niave at the time, I looked forward to meeting my new doctor as we were transferred to a new base – on the opposite coast. I thought perhaps the first doctor just perhaps had his own ajenda, or was perhaps incompetent. However, when I met my new doctor, who by the way was a sweetheart, his whole demeanor changed after he read my medical file. He immediately asked who my previous doctor had been – and I had to tell him that I didn’t even know because he had never told me his name and he didn’t wear a name tag when I saw him. Then my new doctor told me that while my husband was stationed there, that I was ONLY to see him and NO ONE else on the staff. This told me that something was seriously wrong and that it wasn’t just a botched exam….this had further reaching implications that I had thought.
For fear of my then-husband’s career and the fear that someone would be knocking on my door and threatening us, if I said anything, I stayed quiet all these years. But it was difficult as I just wanted to scream to all the unsuspecting wives to run for the hills and stay away from the military doctors.
I find it disturbing at best, that in the recent frenzy of political posturing about abortion that the public image the military is taking is that abortions are not performed at their facilities. What I would like to know is how many servicemen had their unborm children destroyed over all these years, and their wives told they weren’t pregnant or their wives told they had a miscarriage?
Hello, I know this is years late, but I was wondering if this policy is still standing? I am a young woman, recently made adult, who is a military child still on tricare prime… I’m still trying to get my life straightened out, I am currently with a partner, and would like the choice to be able to prevent a child born by me to be brought into this world way earlier than I’m prepared for… I’m using birth control and contraceptives, but just in case something DOES happen… I am horrified and dismayed that this occurred to women in this day and age.