Continuity of care will enable prevention-oriented treatments to really pay off. Such personnel inevitably incur increased health care costs. One of the things the Air Force is trying to do to help is to establish a central office to manage their claims. That will not be up and running, for those on active duty, until this October. It will be another year beyond that before it can handle claims from the families of active duty members.
Funding is an area where military health officials have continued worries.
Right now, the budget looks good through 2001. But increased workload means increased costs. And workload is unpredictable. The reserve call-up for the Kosovo crisis shows how fast things can change. Some of the growing pains that Tricare has experienced should be seen against the context of the national struggle over health care policy, according to the Air Force surgeon general.