Date of Award

3-1997

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Operational Sciences

First Advisor

Jack A. Jackson, PhD

Abstract

Tricare, the triservice, triple-option, managed care plan for the uniformed services, incorporates a managed care support contract to complement Military Treatment Facilities. Currently being implemented throughout the CONUS, Tricare provides more equitable health care service to all military beneficiaries, improved access to care, a reduction in health care costs, and provides beneficiaries with an expanded choice of medical-care providers. This thesis examines the Tricare program and reviews relevant health care literature, both military and civilian. Using these inputs, the author presents a deterministic decision analysis model that allows a military beneficiary to select a health care option that minimizes his or her annual out-of-pocket costs while maintaining personal desires for choice among health care providers. Using several carefully selected examples that span the pool of military beneficiaries, the results of this study are presented. Every individual faced with the Tricare decision, approximately six million people, will gain insight from this thesis. While individual impact may only be on a scale of thousands of dollars, the impact for the entire pool of beneficiaries ranges well into the millions.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GOA-ENS-97M-11

DTIC Accession Number

ADA324209

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