Husband joining, question about pay/benefits during boot camp? (piog)

[brookelas]

My husband is in the process of enlisting with the Navy, and I've heard so many conflicting reports from different people that I'm a little confused.

I think I've got it all sorted out, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

-Health benefits for myself and our kids (a toddler and I'm pregnant) starts the day he starts into basic training.

-As do his paychecks, which are direct deposited.

-Since he has dependants, we get the housing allowance while he is in training, but not the food allowance, since it's technically for him anyway.

-The houseing allowance is basically just added to his paycheck, to be used how we see fit.

Is this all correct?

Also, I'm currently on medicaid for my pregnancy, but it looks like he may be gone before/when I'm due. Are you allowed to be on state assistance so long as you still qualify? (Not sure if we would, though.) -Like medicaid, WIC, food stamps, etc.

As far as insurance goes, I've heard that you both can and can't use off-base doctors, which is true? I live in Utah, where there ARE no Naval bases.

Thanks so much for any and all advice!!

[mommywife06]

Considering you live where there are no military bases you can be seen off base. And if you did you could still be seen but you just have to get a referral and those are hectic to get. As far as BAS I think you do get it because your married. If he was single he would see it as an ENTITLEMENT but it would be taken out as an ALLOTMENT but since your married I think you keep it I could be wrong. I recieved WIC and you can still keep your medicaid while on tricare and whatever medicaid wont cover tricare will or is it whatever tricare wont cover medicaid will. Its one of those lol.  

[brookelas]

lol, I'm thinking it's medicaid will cover what tricare doesn't. 

Thanks so much for your help. :)

[mommywife06]

OK I knew it was one of those lol. The BAS Im pretty sure you keep because you are married(we was just dating when he enlisted). Again I could be wrong so Ill keep this bumped for ya so the other wives can see it.

Quoting brookelas:

lol, I'm thinking it's medicaid will cover what tricare doesn't. 

Thanks so much for your help. :)

[kanakake]

Well lets see I am pretty sure he wont get BAS (food money) being married has nothing to do with it. If he gets stationed on a ship then he wont receive it either. He will have to be on shore duty for that (most cases). Even though your heath care coverage starts the day he enters active duty plan on it being a while before you start receiving the tricare notices about it. There is a lot of paper work that he will be doing in his 9 weeks of boot camp. His paychecks will be direct deposited but not on the day he leaves. In boot camp there is a time when the banks come to his ship and they get everyones bank information so they can begin pay and depending on the date he wont receive money until the next pay period. He will just get back pay from the time he entered active duty status. Oh and there will be a chunk of money missing for his seabag. They dont just give you seabag you pay for it (i was shocked to find that out in boot camp myself) The BAH allowence yes is yours to use but he must have a lease in order to receive it. I dont know if you live in an apartment or if you own your own house im sure MEPS and boot camp will figure it all out. umm thats all I can think of right now. feel free to ask me more.

[sherwins.girl]

i know in the army your bah is yours... as long as you live off post.  it is up to you to find housing you can afford... maybe its a navy thing to have a lease.. ive never heard of that...

[sunshine86912]

i have never heard of the lease thing either..but we are also army..

as for the docs on or off post..you CAN see an off post doc if there isnt one close to you..we go off post to see the dr. and we live on post. lol so just make sure the office takes tricare prime/standard.  once you get tricare i would suggest getting off medicaid because it gets really messy to have both! because both of them dont like to pay lol

Quoting sherwins.girl:

i know in the army your bah is yours... as long as you live off post.  it is up to you to find housing you can afford... maybe its a navy thing to have a lease.. ive never heard of that...

[kanakake]

Yeah I guess it's a navy thing. My DH says its because back in the day people used to scam the system because the Navy see's BAH as something to use for housing not just for your pocket. When I applied for for my BAH I had to wait until my roommate came back from a long underway period so we could all go and sign a new lease since I wasn't on the lease yet. So even though I was eligible for BAH since my 20th week of pregnancy I couldn't get it until after my 28th, because they Navy wouldn't process it without out a lease with my name on it.

Quoting sherwins.girl:

i know in the army your bah is yours... as long as you live off post.  it is up to you to find housing you can afford... maybe its a navy thing to have a lease.. ive never heard of that...

[armycoppertop]

 He will NOT get BAS during training. BAS is for the service member only, it is NOT intended to be part of the household budget, it is the equivalent of what it costs to eat in the chow hall three meals a day. He is not entitled to receive BAS if he is eating in the chow hall/has a meal card (if he eats in the chow hall without a meal card, he has to pay cash. The BAS is just so he can buy "HIS" food to eat at home with his family). His LES will show it in the entitlements column, and then in the deductions column it will be deducted. He will actually probably have to file for his BAS to stop his "meal deductions" when he gets to his first duty station if he is active duty. But it would be backdated to the day after he finishes his schooling.

 

BAH will be paid at his home of record until he finishes school, then it will be based on his duty assignment effective the day he signs into his new duty station.

 

ALL monetary entitlements will be direct deposited into his bank account, and 99% of them will be 1st and 15th pays (the occassional deposit will be made outside of those dates, such as pay advances, travel voucher payments, etc, which will deposited as soon as processed).

 

TriCare WILL be effective the date of his enlistment, however, depending on where you live, you will need TriCare Prime REMOTE or standards, etc. Contact TriCare now to find out, because if you are going Prime, you have to fill out paperwork and have it sent in by the 20th to take effect on the 1st of the following month... otherwise you have to wait another month. TriCare can tell you what plan would be best for you. But you can be seen on or off base, but you have to make sure that the off base providers are network providers or approved or whatever or TriCare won't cover your visit. I was stationed in the Chicagoland area, Great Lakes was too far for me to drive all the time for anything but speciality appts or dental, so I was enrolled in Prime Remote and my kids and I were all seen at a civilian doctor off post. My ex husband's youngest daughter was at Bragg with him and his girlfriend, she was too good to be seen by military doctors, so she got TriCare to refer her to a pediatrician off post when she was living five minutes from the post clinics.

 

TriCare is NEVER the first payer, though (except in adoption cases, then TriCare goes first, then the medicaid or whatever they get). If you have OHI (Other Health Insurance), you MUST tell TriCare and your doctors and they will ALWAYS be the first payer (hence the reason most military personnel don't bother with OHI since TriCare usually takes care of it all on post for 100% free).

 

If you still qualify for state aid of any kind, the military can not do anything about it. You qualify, you qualify. Usually you don't, you are just over the income limits in most cases, but some do. I did qualify for WIC (most junior enlisted do) when I was a dependent with my children, but we never qualified for welfare or anything like that.

 

Keep in mind, BAH, BAS and TriCare are at the DOD level for the basic regulations, they are not branch specific, they are run by DFAS. The forms can be branch specific, like for Army, to stop meal deductions so it goes into your bank account, it is a DA 4187 (Department of the Army Personnel Actions form), but for Navy it will be a different form. I believe the BAH form is a DD form (Department of Defense), but I can't remembe for sure if it is DD or what the form number is, but when he inprocesses at Boot, they will have the proper paperwork for him, and anything they screw up or don't do, they can fix when he reports to his duty station and it will all be backdated to the proper date. TriCare, though... don't wait for him to do at boot, cause it might not get done at all, let alone correctly. Make sure you have POA so you can fill the paperwork out yourself, and get your mlitary ID immeadiately. Google RAPIDS and you will find a website for DEERS/RAPIDS and do a search, you don't have to go to a military installation, you can go to a reserve unit of any branch that has an office locally, or any location that has an office. Your husband will probably have the marraige certificates and birth certificates and social security cards with him to enroll you at boot, if he doesn't get you enrolled immeadiately, well, regardless, send him with an envelope and stamps and tell him that he is to mail them all back to you immeadiately (he doesn't need to keep that stuff with him out there!!) because if he didn't enroll you in DEERS, then you will need those documents to get you and your children enrolled into DEERS before you can get TriCare benefits. Talk to the recruiters about how fast he should have you enrolled or if they can get you set up beforehand (I was single when I shipped, so I didn't have to deal with  enrolling in DEERS)

[brookelas]

Thanks for all the help, guys. I've got it figured out for the most part now. :)

[mamamissy23]

YOU WILL NOT GET BAS...It is for him, you will see it on his LES but it will be under his deductions. When he is away they feed him and thats what it is for. Medicaid will cover what Tricare doesnt. You wont see a paycheck for a month or so...so plan wisely...and the BAH (housing) is split between the 1st and the 15th check.