'For us and by us.' Military beneficiaries in Atlanta can now choose CareSource for help, health

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Jarrad Turner is a retired Army medic living in Atlanta.

Credit: Ellen Eldridge/GPB

Jarrad Turner chose to serve his country as an Army medic, even after serious injuries. But, until now, he had no choice about who managed his health care plan. That forced him to obtain referrals for specialists and change providers when he didn't want to.

A year into his second deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006, Turner was nearly killed by a rocket-propelled grenade.

"As a result of getting injured, I had to have four shoulder surgeries, two elbow surgeries, two surgeries on my jaw, and I got filleted with a piece of shrapnel," Turner said.

The Army treated his physical wounds, but Turner didn't realize the toll his mental health took until he was stationed at Fort Sam in Houston, Texas, as a trainer for medics. 

"Unfortunately, that's when traumatic brain injury kind of reared its ugly head," and post-traumatic stress disorder took over, he said.

While driving during a thunderstorm, a fallen tree branch in the road stopped Turner's truck. 

"I knew it was a branch," he said. "I literally had to get out of my truck and literally touch the branch because I had so much fear that it was going to blow up because I was so accustomed to IEDs and daisy-chained improvised bombs."

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Turner moved to Atlanta when medically retired in 2010 and started Tricare, the military health insurance program.

"People don't answer the phone call," he said. "You might get somebody to respond in a week. And unfortunately, people did not understand who I was or understand what the rest of my brothers and sisters had gone through."

Eligible beneficiaries of Tricare Prime include active duty, military retirees and their families, families of activated National Guard Reservists and Gold Star families.

Tricare Prime service areas were built around Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) sites.

"We lost Fort McPherson, we lost Fort Gillum, but we have so many military retirees here," Turner said.

The health plan is managed by the Defense Health Agency and the Department of Defense, but CareSource Miliary & Veterans’ managed care model is intended to increase access to care, while providing personalized support and engagement, to improve health outcomes and quality of life, said Selene Martin, Associate Vice President, Corporate Affairs, CareSource Military & Veterans.

During open enrollment from Nov. 10 to Dec. 9, eligible beneficiaries who choose Tricare Prime will now see CareSource as another organization that will manage their health plans. 

"So, they have a choice (concerning who manages their health plan)," Martin said. "Atlanta-area beneficiaries have only had a choice one other time in the past five years."

Martin compared the health plan to buying an automobile that puts military families in the driver's seat.

Tricare Prime is the base of the model of car, she said. 

"So, with the pilot, you get the base models, but the enhanced benefits that you get include no network referrals," Martin said. "We know that is a barrier and pain point for our military families."

Anyone who chooses to see a specialist within the network can go see them, which Turner is excited about because he does not want to lose the mental health providers that he counts on.

"There is anxiety about starting all over again," he said. "How many times do we have to tell the story? I don't want to go to another mental health provider, a physical health provider to retell the story."

"Finally, we got something that is for us and by us," Turner said, adding that the CareSource team reflects what the military community is. 

"It's a very diverse team of passionate individuals that live by, clearly live by, our ethos."