Adventures at Hanscom

According to a Staff Sergeant in Quantico, in order for my injury to be covered under the military’s insurance, I needed a consult with a military physician, since I lived within 50 miles of a base.

Yesterday Adrienne and I made our way out to Hanscom Air Force Base, located about 30 minutes from my house. I was told I needed to be seen by a physician, who would give me a referral to a local Boston orthopedic specialist.

We arrived to the medical clinic at around 1315 and were told that I needed to be registered with Tricare before I could be seen. So I hobbled to the Tricare office, where I was then told I needed a DD-261 filled out by my CO at Quantico before anything could be done. Nobody at my local OSO office had ever heard of a DD-261, apparently it is an Air Force form that the Navy/Marine Corps doesn’t use. So we faxed a copy to Quantico, but since it was now 1430, there was no way I was going to get the form filled out that day and I wouldn’t be seen by a physician, which meant I would have to come back to Hanscom when they received the form back from Quantico.

But thanks to the awesome people at Hanscom, they bent their typical rules and proceeded with the process! I was registered with Tricare, x-rayed, and had a successful consult with a Lieutenant Colonel all within the next 2 hours. I am very happy about this because now I will be able to keep my appointment on the 28th with the orthopedic specialist at Boston Medical Center that I booked almost 3 weeks ago. Sweet.