In this special episode of Tango Tango, host Lloyd Knight sits down with Holly Joers, President, Military and Veterans for CareSource, for an inside look at one of the most important changes impacting military families this year: TRICARE Open Season and the brand-new CareSource Military & Veterans Prime option available in Atlanta and Tampa.

Holly shares her remarkable journey—from growing up in small-town West Virginia to a distinguished civil service career across the Air Force, the F-35 program, and the Defense Health Agency—before transitioning into the mission-driven world of CareSource. Her unique background offers rare insight into how healthcare innovation, military culture, and patient-centric design come together in this groundbreaking TRICARE demonstration program.

Listeners will learn:

• What TRICARE is and who is eligible
• Why the new CareSource Prime option matters, including game-changing benefits like no referrals for in-network specialists
• How CareSource leverages decades of experience in whole-person, community-based care
• The biggest differences between this demonstration and earlier pilots, including broader provider networks and integrated care teams
• How enrollment works, why it’s fast and easy, and what beneficiaries can expect after signing up
• How military families can advocate for expanding choice to other states and regions

With TRICARE Open Season ending on December 9, this episode offers timely, practical information for retirees, families, Guard and Reserve members, and veterans who want more control, choice, and convenience in their healthcare.

Additional Links & Resources:

• Connect with Holly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-joers-04ab4783/
• Learn more about CareSource: www.caresource.com
• Enroll today: https://www.caresource.com/plans/tricare-prime-demo/eligibility-and-enrollment/#enroll
• Learn more about Tango Tango: https://supplychainnow.com/program/tango-tango
• Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about
• Learn more about Vetlanta: https://vetlanta.org
• Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com
• Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now’s Media Kit: https://bit.ly/3XH6OVk

This episode of Tango Tango was hosted by Lloyd Knight and produced by Trisha Coredes, Joshua Miranda, nd Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated episode page at: https://supplychainnow.com/mission-better-care-talk-caresource-military-1tt15

Welcome to the Tango Tango podcast.

Real, raw and unfiltered conversations with veterans and those who support them.

Tune in, be inspired, and walk away stronger.

Wow.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I am so excited.

One, I'm excited about Thanksgiving because I love Thanksgiving.

And then I'm excited because I'm getting ready to hop on an airplane and head to Germany for 10 days.

But the third reason I'm excited is we're here to talk about tricare open season and care source military and veterans.

And joining us, very special guest, Holly Drawers.

Welcome, Holly.

Thanks, Lloyd.

Excited to be here.

I'm also excited about Thanksgiving, so ready to get ready for it.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving, Hollywood?

Quiet with.

With my immediate family here.

We.

We're getting some food together, watching a lot of football and.

And eating and, you know, just grateful for our time together.

Yeah.

The one bad thing about going to Germany, the only bad thing about going to Germany on Thanksgiving is I'm gonna miss the dogs on a this weekend.

But that's okay.

So the.

Yeah, big game was that's Friday this year, right?

Yeah, Georgia Tech.

So, yeah, so it was a huge game last year.

Eight overtimes.

So, Holly, we're here to talk about tricare open enrollment, open season, as it's known as.

We're here to talk about caresource and military and veterans program that you're running and to get to know that better.

But before we get to know that better, I want to get to know you.

So where are you originally from, Holly?

I am originally from West Virginia.

I grew up in a little town, basically.

You know what?

I don't.

I'm not even sure we had one stoplight.

There was a stoplight by my high school and then went to Virginia Tech and ended up down start, you know, in the Florida Panhandle for start.

A start of my career and my life.

So why'd you study at Virginia Tech?

I actually was a marketing major with a minor in communication.

Thought I was going to go into sports marketing, but when I moved to the Florida Panhandle, that was not really a viable option.

Wow.

Very, very cool.

And what did you like to do when you were at Virginia Tech besides study?

Oh, well, I was gonna say I did.

I did school in three years, so there was a lot of studying involved in about 21 hours a semester.

Like a crazy person.

But just, I mean, again, huge sports fan.

So pretty much, if there was a sporting event going on, I was there.

Whether it was you know, sitting behind the fence at, you know, the baseball field or obviously football, basketball.

You know, the great thing about going to, you know, Division 1 school and you get to be involved in all of that community involvement, you know, you know, lots of opportunities.

Virginia Tech is one of the few schools that has a core cadet, so, you know, a lot of military engagement in and around that as well.

But yeah, it's, it was a good time.

Well, our wonderful producers from supply chain now have shared your LinkedIn profile in the comments or they will share it.

So you had a really a storied career in civil service.

Can you walk us through, you know, the start until your retirement?

Okay, yeah, sure.

So I, you know, a lot of times I end up kind of going most recent backwards, but I'll start with, you know, I ended up when I said I moved to the, the Florida Panhandle, I started work at Eglin Air Force Base, you know, in the palace acquire intern program back as a, I think, you know, a GS7, you know, into the, the entry level program and started out working on the flight line with acquisition logistics.

So I was working in acquisition offices with bombs, missiles, fuses, you know, started to learn.

So it's interesting when you talk about the logistics and the supply chain because that's near and dear to my heart.

I was, I started out as a loggie.

So, you know, I, I feel like you never quite lo.

As you, as you move on.

And then I ended up kind of moving into test program management, moved up here to D.C. with the F35 program.

And you're like, okay, so how did you end up in the healthcare space?

Right.

Like most things with the military, especially the Air Force, right, they really believe in career broadening and sort of, you know, kind of looking at civilians in a way similar to they, to the military.

So, you know, I had my PCA every so many, so many years, right onto the next problem, onto the next problem and.

Or challenge, I guess I should say the next, next thing to do.

And I was very fortunate to end up, you know, like on the business system side of the house, ended up in health IT and wound up sort of the end of my time with the government at Defense Health Agency.

So work in modernization of health IT and operational medicine and how do we connect all those dots and get data where it needs to be.

So really became passionate about the healthcare mission.

You know, I look back and I often say I went from sort of the kinetic side of things, right, to the healing, the health, healthcare and healing side of things.

And I all are important, but I felt very passionate about the mission and for the military health system.

And when it came time, you know, for the next thing, I was like, you know, I want to stay in this healthcare space.

So opportunity came along for to join caresource and I jumped at it because I'm really passionate about trying to modernize and really think differently about how we do health healthcare within the military health system.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Before we jump into caresource, I want to talk more about you had career broadening is right.

I would have never pieced those things together, but I should because that's what the military, especially in acquisitions and technology, we kind of do.

So I would imagine your perspective coming into healthcare, defense, healthcare, to me, perspective means everything.

And your perspective there had to be absolutely very different.

Was it?

Was it.

Did you run into any roadblocks with that perspective coming in?

So, you know, it's interesting because a lot of challenges that we face tend to do with, I'll say, communication.

So even in the IT world, right.

A lot of things aren't, you know, specific to the actual technology.

Right.

It's people and communication and dealing with challenges.

So in that aspect, sort of, I, I jokingly say, insert subject here, right.

Like, it's okay.

The Air Force has trained me to, okay, let me come in, assess the situation, figure it out and.

And go.

But you know, there is always a learning curve coming in.

And I think the biggest thing is knowing who those subject matter experts are to, to rely on those and kind of really recognizing, you know, and being humble enough to go, okay, I know I need to pull in folks to help me understand the context around it.

So whether it be the 70 deltas, the medics that now worked for me doing other things, or just really understanding the dynamics of network care and direct care and how that works, or the dynamics between the services and the Defense health Agency.

All of that is sort of, you know, there's the specifics related to like the subject matter that, that you get to.

But I feel really blessed to have that, like, fresh perspective that I was able to come in and say, okay, you know, I faced a situation like this before.

It's just, you know, the subject may be different, like what we're dealing with may be different, but, you know, being able to kind of, you know, bring.

Bring a unique perspective into the space.

Yeah.

And I loved what you said about, you know, hiring, you know, people, that knowledge.

You certainly did that.

Hopefully you hired them or maybe they were hired and then you were hired.

But I got to give it to you.

The team at caresource, you know, Selena and Ted, oh my gosh, they are so wonderful to deal with.

Not only are they competent, but they're absolutely passionate.

And then they're very easy to talk to and.

Yeah.

So tell me you hired them.

I wish I could.

I accepted.

But I will tell you, when I met them, I knew I had found the right place.

So when I said I, you know, had the opportunity to come to Care Source and trying to figure out, okay, is this the right fit for me?

I'm passionate about the mission was that.

And the minute I talked to Ted Painter and Selena Martin, I was like, okay, this is the right fit.

And it's beyond them.

Our entire CSMV team, we're all military affiliated in some way, shape or form.

Right.

In addition to my work, you know, as a civil servant, I am a, you know, military spouse.

Well retired now.

Right.

Retired Air Force spouse.

But, you know, Ted brings not only his exceptional operational knowledge of healthcare plans and the system and how all that works, but he is still serving as a Marine reservist.

You know, Selena brings, you know, not only her, her personal, familiar, you know, relationship as, as a daughter of military and, you know, retired spouse, but she, you know, her, her previous roles at USAA in the philanthropic area and community partnerships, I mean, just brings a wealth of knowledge and coming in just knowing, you know, what like, you know, it's like, you know, my, the trusted circle of like, hey, we got this.

And you know, it's amazing to come to work every day and have people that are thinking about new things, are passionate about the mission, and then can turn around and execute.

Right?

Like, it's, it's really about what does it take to get the job done.

And again, it's, it's our entire CSMD team.

I just, I feel so blessed to have the team we have and they've.

Done such a great job with, with partnerships.

You know, I look at some of the partnerships you have.

You know, the Military Influencers Conference, you know how big you were there, your partners at Recurrent IO and Task and Purpose and Mill Spouse Fest.

And you have Vetlanta and ATL vets here in Atlanta and Tampa.

And it's been incredible to watch them develop these partnerships.

And it would have never happened if you didn't hire the right people.

So hiring the right people has facilitated that.

So let's go ahead and talk a little bit about, for those who are listening that may not be veterans, what exactly is tricare.

Okay, so tricare is a health benefit that comes along with having served in the military.

Right.

So tricare serves active duty family members, retirees, retiree family members, survivors.

There are tricare programs for guard and reserve and sort of different distinctions on those.

And even Tricare even has a program, a plan for those who are Medicare eligible when they turn 65.

Right.

So it's a. TRICARE is a suite of, I'll say, health benefits that come along with having served.

And, you know, it's interesting, you know, I'm just going to say right here, like being able to come in and look at the history of sort of the Tricare benefit, how it's evolved and really recognizing that, you know, when, when I talk to folks who are in sort of, you know, private sector employment and what kind of healthcare they have, I mean, the benefit is really a tremendous benefit.

And so we look at it as how can we enhance that experience?

Because it's a huge, hugely valuable.

Sorry.

That's all right.

I love it.

So I've been.

It's hard to believe I've been retired now for almost 19 years and been enrolled in Tricare Prime.

It's worked mostly great, mostly great.

But the one kind of frustration was there was really no competition in the program.

And I want competition for anything.

Right?

When I went and bought, you know, my Chevy Silverado, I looked at five different pickup trucks.

When I bought this house that Sarah and I live in, I think we looked at eight or nine different houses.

You know, I want to find not, you know, the cheapest out there, but the option that's going to best fit my needs.

So when with tricare, they had a program a couple of years ago with Kaiser Permanente, I was the first to raise my hand and signed up for Kaiser Permanente and was fairly happy with that.

Unfortunately, there were some roadblocks that Kaiser faced for sure that you guys are in a much different situation.

So when I found out there was another test program coming back in Atlanta, Veteran City, usa, as I call Atlanta, and in Tampa, I was super excited.

So as soon as I could start reading about it, before I met any of your team, I was excited about it because it's an opportunity for a choice.

And then I wanted to see, hey, you guys have to earn my business.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do to earn my business?

And then when I met Ted and Selena and then some of your other team members and started reading what you were doing, as soon as open season happened, I signed up myself.

And my bride Sarah for the trial.

So I'm really excited about that.

But before, so we learned what TRICARE is.

Who is CareSource?

Because you're not brand new.

You've been around for several decades doing big things and other sectors.

So who exactly is CareSource?

And then my follow up question, oh my gosh, how did you land this test contract?

Well, let me start with caresource, because caresource has been around, like you said, for several decades.

Not.

Care Source is a nonprofit, really started in Ohio.

I like to tell people we were doing Social Determinants of health before it was called Social Determinants of Health.

And so for those of you listening, that's, you know, think of all the things that make up wellness, right?

So if you're worried about your financial stability and, you know, jobs, all these other things that are happening in your life, it's really hard to focus on your wellness, right?

So I think, you know, in the past few years that has really kind of come to the forefront in medical literature and studies and, you know, people really focusing on that.

But Care Source has been doing that as part of a mission in the Medicaid space for a long time.

And really looking at how do you drive, you know, preventative care, wellness, looking at complex care, and what are the ways that you can make it sort of people centric?

And so the great thing about caresource military veterans is we get to draw on that, right?

Today, CareSource serves, I think about 500,000 Georgians, so statewide, not just in the Atlanta area, but in Georgia.

And so, you know, we get to, to leverage that and say, okay, what are the, what are the things that, that make sense?

How do they apply to this community?

And, and so, you know, when we started down this path, so we asked how we landed it.

Well, so the, the competitive plans demonstration or tricare prime prime demo for Atlanta and Tampa.

How do we drive choice?

What are things that we can do, you know, as a department to, you know, what can the department do to try to contain costs but also look at it from a, you know, patient centric focus.

And so there was a competition for these new plants in Tampa and Atlanta.

And like you said, you said Vet City, usa.

Like really the Atlanta and Tampa were chosen because of the number of military, you know, prominent military community.

And from a healthcare perspective, there's a lot of infrastructure there.

So really Looking at how do you marry the two to create, to create something.

And so caresource won that competition for both Atlanta and Tampa.

And one of the first things the team really did was the listening sessions of okay, yes, we're all military affiliated and certainly have our own experiences we bring related to this space.

But what are others out there thinking, feeling?

How do we work with organizations like MFAN to hear what kind of surveys they're getting?

What's the data tell us?

How do we make this data driven?

And I think back to some original, you know, some early like Booth sessions we did where, you know, Pam, Pam Drake and some others, they get out, post it notes and put it on and they'd ask people that walk by, if you could change one thing about your tricare benefit or your health plan, like what would it be?

And so gathering that information to say, okay, what are the things that we can do differently?

So you have the same plan coverage, like, meaning you know, the co pays the, you know, you know, how it's, you know, sort of structured financially for folks is the same, but what do people want in a health plan and how can we do it differently?

And one of the biggest things is no referrals.

I will say personally, I was like, woohoo.

But I think, you know, as we talk to folks, right, that is just one thing.

So if you are in network, so if you want to do a referral, it's not, hey, let's make an appointment with my primary care manager and wait, you know, weeks to do that, to turn around and wait for a referral, to turn around and wait to try to make an appointment with specialty care.

Certainly people's primary care managers will be as involved as, you know, as they, as they should be.

But there, you know, we have eliminated the requirement to go back for, you know, sort of a government approved referral for in network care.

So really, you know, you, you know, it's, you know, you need to go to a specialist, you've talked to your doctor, you know, you're, or you're already in a position where, you know, you're coming into this plan and you know, you go to a gastroenterologist, for instance, whatever, whatever the specialist may be, right.

You're not having to wait for referrals to, to go to, to get access to that care.

That's what I was so super excited about.

You know, that won me over.

So, so when I found that out, this is, you're going to laugh at this, Holly.

So I have like a bunch of referrals I need to do appointments, and I purposely have not done those.

And I'm waiting until January 1st so I can go see my specialist without going through that whole obnoxious referral AI process.

I mean, because it is challenging.

I love TRICARE.

Love TRICARE.

But, but the, the biggest pain point over 18 years has probably been the referral process.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, there's reasons why it's there.

Right.

And so the idea of this, from when you hear the word demonstration, what does that mean?

Are we, what are we testing?

Well, this is us being able to demonstrate those concepts, right.

To say, hey, this can work.

Right.

And then how to.

Then the government can turn around and learn and say, oh, okay, this worked here.

Can we apply that broadly to, to the space?

Right.

So I, I think, you know, I just want to bring that up because I know sometimes people are like, oh, demonstration.

What does that mean?

Right?

Is, you know, when you talk about, like, Kaiser and some of the other things with the test, at the end of the day, it's really, you know, you're signing up for, for a health plan with, with CareSource.

And we're able, the demonstration part of it is to show, hey, there are some other options and alternatives out there that can work and help the government learn and assess those to see if those are things that they want to carry throughout the entire population or what does that look like?

But for us, it's really about serving the Atlanta and Tampa communities and making it as seamless as we can.

One of the things, like I said, first thing, no referrals.

Right.

Obviously, a lot of folks listening are probably like, right, like, sign me up.

Right.

But the other thing is, you know, for folks with complex care needs, having a care manager to do that, I know, you know, for myself, I've had to be my own advocate coordinating things with my specialists and like, figuring all of that out for my own personal health journey.

Right.

And so we look, one of the things care source really brings to the table is a care management approach.

So if you, you have complex care needs or, you know, chronic disease management, things that have to happen, we have care managers that will look at a plan and pull.

We call it integrated care teams.

Right.

So it's your primary care manager, your specialists, all of those coming together for communication about, about that patient and making sure people are talking and sharing information.

Because I think there's nothing more frustrating than like going and repeating yourself to doctor after doctor.

Right.

So the idea of having an integrated care team to sort of Coordinate and facilitate the peer to peer dialogue amongst the care team is something else we're, we're bringing to the table.

And, and we've, we know that, that, that is something that we have seen work in the Medicaid space.

You know, like I said in Georgia, we see that, we know that works.

And you know, connecting to life services where, for instance, not everything someone needs is medical.

Right.

I talked about those social determinants of health.

How can we help people get through the noise and figure out what those resources are?

So I think about like your Vetlana, your organization and doing those things, helping people.

There's so many non profits out there.

There are so many resources.

How do we help people kind of navigate that?

And that's where partnerships you mentioned early on, like, come into play and building those community partnerships.

So I know I kind of meandered through there, but it's, you know, obviously no referrals, complex, you know, care management and then really that whole person connection and sort of concierge connection to those resources.

Yeah, those community partnerships are so important because you got to establish those because as we know in the space, there's good, there's bad and, and then there's ugly.

Well, and it's just really overwhelming.

I mean, I know when my husband retired and he, you know, we're looking, you need to go through the tap and you go through all these things and you're looking and you're like, wow, which ones do I pick?

Which are the, like, what, what do I, how do I attack this?

Right.

And so on top of everything else you're dealing with, you're like, on one hand it's great to have so many resources out there, but on the other hand, you're like, it's overwhelming.

So, so do all those service members, spouses, military families and veterans listening, just move to Atlanta.

Move to Veterans City, USA.

We figured it out.

Vetlanta.org we got a next summit's coming up December 3rd at Cox A headquarters right down the road in Suny Springs.

But hey, speaking of Atlanta, I'm really curious.

Atlanta and Tampa are both wonderful cities for, for military and veterans, but wow, are they very different?

What are some of the lessons you've learned on the differences between those two cities?

So, well, first off, like, I'll just the obvious is, you know, from a population perspective, you know, in the Atlanta area, there's not as many active duty families.

Certainly, you know, at Dobbins.

And you know, there, there's, there are some.

But by and large, you know, you you end up with sort of the garden reserve component, but mostly, you know, retirees and families.

Whereas in Tampa you still have a significant active duty family component there and needs are, are different while they're sort of from a healthcare perspective, baseline the same.

But you know, when we think about what active duty families are sort of going through on the day to day basis, especially with kind of ops tempo, potentially out of, out of McDill or you know, other things.

Right.

You know, there's, there's a little bit of a nuance to like how do we look at support versus you know, maybe you know, sort of a larger retiree and family community.

That said, like I said, the, you know, if you Venn diagram, the commonality though is really, you know, support making it, you know, as streamlined as possible, you know, listening, cutting out the red tape, like, you know, the referral, you know, conversation.

So there's a lot of similarities there.

And certainly, you know, I, I don't want to say that there's not a retiree population in, in Tampa.

Certainly it's, it's a very large population as well.

So I would say it's proximity, you know, things they have in common, drive time.

So, so even though those of you Atlanta, you're like, ah, you know, with all the traffic.

Tampa, while it may not be as many counties spread out, it's pretty concentrated.

And so one of the things we looked at with adequacy of network, right.

It was, it isn't just hey, do we have enough systems?

It's okay.

Where are the people living?

And do we have the right mix of providers that are within a certain time and distance to reduce that burden?

Yeah, well, I, I know providers like you, you guys because you pay and I remember hearing that you pay providers every two weeks.

Yeah, well, we actually do Tuesday, Thursday payments on a rolling basis with providers.

And so yeah, I think we've got pretty care source has very high provider satisfaction scores.

I don't have them off the top of my head, but I mean it's really, I think the challenge obviously especially, I mean there's the large hospital systems, but especially when you start talking smaller providers, behavioral health providers, folks that are, you know, can't carry the burden right.

Of, of from a cash flow perspective for a long period of time.

I think that that's, that's one of the things we, we bring to the table is we can, you know, we can process that very quickly and so you, you reduce kind of friction there from the provider perspective.

And then you know, if the providers Are, are happy that in turn flows down right to, to patient care and other things.

Great.

The.

Let's talk a little bit about timing.

I know open season opened on, I think it was Veterans Day.

Yeah, close.

Yeah.

The 10th.

Yep.

Right around there for Veterans Day.

And it, when does open season end?

It opens December 9th.

So it was basically Marine Corps birthday to December 9th to my husband's birthday.

Yeah, very good.

That's easy to remember.

So this December 9th.

And, and so Caresource Military and Veterans are open to those in Atlanta and the Tampa markets.

Is this a one year trial?

Two year.

So right now the contract is three years and so.

Yeah, pretty, pretty short.

I'll say open season.

Although that's, I would say that's standard for Tricare.

Right.

Some other, you know, in the, in the federal space.

Some, there's, there's some longer open seasons, but I think, you know, you've got roughly a four week window.

Obviously we've got holidays in there.

So you got Veterans Day, you got Thanksgiving.

So we're coming up pretty soon on the last, last push here and you know, I, I was talking to, you know, folks and I'm like, you know, when do you, when do you go in for your, your employer health care window?

Do you guys go, you know, like almost everybody's like the last push at the end, right?

You're like, oh, I need to do that.

Oh, I need to do that.

So my plug here is for every.

That's been putting it off, you got till December 9 to go in and either call or click through the online portal.

But there's folks, you know, if you've got questions, you can call and ask questions about the benefit, go to the website or you know, click through to the online, online portal.

So yeah, so the health plan will start on, on the 1st of January.

So again that's sort of, we're, we're in the, I don't know what is today the 26th.

So we've got, you know, roughly a week and a half, not quite two weeks left in the, in the open window.

And it's super easy to sign up.

You know the, when I was able to access the system, I think it took me maybe three to four minutes.

I know the Department of Defense had some hiccups in one of the websites, one of the web portal systems not related to care source.

And so you guys were directing people for the toll free number.

And I know that was really worked out really well.

People were able to dial.

The phone was picked up within a couple rings.

And they were able to get signed up in about five or six minutes.

Yeah.

And I'll just say, I mean, as a beneficiary, I could say this, right?

Like that DS Logon is always, you know, that it's something we're used to deal, you know, to working with as beneficiaries.

And so, you know, the online portal takes you through.

You can go through the DS Logon and then into it.

And that's really, for the most part, I would say, intended for after hours.

Right.

The call center is, you know, 8 to 6, I think, Monday through Friday right now for enrollment.

And I've been hearing that's pretty short, like five minutes kind of call to check in, give your information, check your eligibility and then confirm you're signed up.

And then what happens is we'll get that enrollment information because for those of you, you know, in the system, you know, everything has to go through deers, right?

So it goes into deers and then we get the notification and then we can start the process with ID cards and, and the welcome package and all the things that we do to, to bring folks on the journey.

So if people sign up now, it's not like it's going to be on January 1st.

They'll hear from us.

Right.

Right away, you know, I'll say within a window of kind of getting, getting all of that information from the, the DOD systems.

We get it over and then we can start the, the welcome process to start to get everybody on board so that they can hit the ground running on the 1st of January.

Sarah and I received our cards in the mail yesterday.

The process went really well.

Hey, if somebody runs into any roadblocks, the, and Amanda shared up how to sign up any roadblocks, you know, who, who should they contact in caresource?

Well, so, so there's the online, you know, so you can go to our website.

We have online call centers as well.

Certainly I'm, you know, there's, all of us are happy, happy to field questions or concerns that folks have, but I think you, the best, the best case is to start with, with if they're running into a roadblock, signing up to, to call the number.

But then, you know, you can, can reach out.

You know, hey, you know, I almost hate to say this out loud, but, yeah, if somebody wants to hit me up on LinkedIn, I'll figure out how to help you.

So it's, we're really, like I said, but, but we've got a great team, you know, on board from the customer service team.

Perspective.

So I think kind of first, first batch is, hey, call the number.

But we want to make it as easy as possible.

So my next question is, we had somebody jump on like, hey, we want a choice in North Carolina.

So what can our listeners, our viewers do to advocate for health care choice?

So there is, well, obviously there is always the route of kind of, hey, it sounds cheesy to say, but contact your congressman, because this has, you know, Congress has been interested in choice in this space.

And so there is, you know, there are folks that are listening to that.

We are expecting that there will be several more competitive plan demonstrations.

Obviously they will, they will go out for competition.

But choice, I don't know yet where, where those locations will be.

So the government will, will be looking at that and, you know, trying to determine those best locations.

So if you have a key spouse in that area, certainly advocating up through da, you know, through, through the forums, through the, the wing and, you know, internal, that is always a viable option.

But again, you know, showing interest in an area, I think, you know, is helpful as DHA is trying to, to make determinations on where the next spots will be.

Right.

Dha, if you're listening the current Atlanta, you're incorporating the Atlanta metro area, which is eight counties.

We want the greater Atlanta area.

So the greater Atlanta area we run of these unique areas.

We are actually, the greater Atlanta area is defined as 28 counties.

Yeah, it's.

So we want to capture the Greater Atlanta area, 28 counties.

And while we're at it, let's expand it all the way out and grab Columbus, Georgia and Fort Benning.

No, I, you know, and I talked to some folks from Moody at the MITT conference you mentioned.

I talked to one of the key spouses there, you know, and looking at that, I think there's a conversation to be had, especially some of the rural areas in Georgia.

Right.

I talked about the infrastructure in Atlanta, you know, and that it makes it, you know, there's a huge health infrastructure, but.

And starting to look at what does choice look like when you have maybe even some, some more rural areas in the state.

So I, I hope to have more conversations about that.

I think this is just the start.

So for us, it's like, hey, let's get people on board, signed up, kind of show that, hey, choice matters and you can have, you know, having a choice.

And then it's a lot easier to have those conversations like, hey, you know, there is an interest out there for people to have choice.

And let's have the conversation on how we expand that.

Yeah.

Outstanding.

I am so thrilled that I had a choice this year.

And then I'm really impressed with caresource military and veterans, the more I interact with the team.

And I'm sure my healthcare over the three years of this trial program is going to be outstanding, including no referrals.

And one thing we didn't mention is you don't pay your fees for the first.

Thank you.

I'm like, how did I forget that?

Yes.

So for Tricare prime.

No, you know, for those that would normally pay an enrollment fee, there is the fee waiver for the first year.

And so every little bit helps right now.

Especially, you know, it's, it's one of those things that I think, you know, just an added benefit, right, for the first year to say, hey, let's just take the edge off that one less thing you have to worry about and then, and then that'll kick in, you know, at the second year.

Hey, one last thing I want to cover before I hand it over to you for your closing comments is we talked about, they tried this before in Atlanta with, with the Kaiser Permanente.

Can you talk about what is different between that program and the program you're doing now?

So there's a couple things.

Just first, on an obvious just level, you know, the folks at Kaiser first off have been great in talking with about kind of what they learned in going through this process.

I want to give them a shout out because I think they definitely saw great quality outcomes as part of their process.

And one of the, the big differences though is, you know, Kaiser, I will say, you know, layman's term, sort of a closed network, right.

You go to Kaiser as a health system versus with care source coming in as a health plan building sort of that robust network that crosses multiple health systems.

So whether it's going to Emory or Northside or, you know, you know, pick, pick the Children's Hospital of Atlanta, right.

You pick, pick the hospital system, right.

It's, it's covering that robust network versus sort of with the Kaiser program really going into the, the Kaiser network, but fundamentally very similar objectives.

Right.

It's really about looking at things from an integrated care perspective, looking at wholeness, looking, you know, a whole person wellness.

Those are all very similar objectives.

The other thing is, you know, and I don't know the nuance of how, how you all ended up signing up for it.

Right.

Versus, you know, open season or it was nestled under the existing tricare contract versus what we're doing here with the, the new prime option as Sort of a separate plan option versus something that's nested under the existing tricare.

But I mean, that nuance probably more significant to me than, than folks that are signing up for it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thanks for that explanation.

You actually explained it really well.

All right.

It's hard to believe we're 40 minutes into this.

All right, I know anybody that knows me knows I could probably talk your off for about an hour about this.

Super excited.

And yes, I'm gonna, I don't know, I'll jump in with my call to action of if you want choice, if this sounds good to you, like, the difference is this year you have to take an action.

And so I often put this in my terms of, like, I said it and forget it.

I set my tricare plan years ago.

I haven't had an option, so I haven't had a need to.

Open season comes and goes and I'm like, oh, it's open season.

I'm not changing anything because I didn't have an option to even consider.

And so I think the first thing I want people to understand is there is an option if you're in Atlanta, if you're in Tampa, check it out, educate yourself.

And then in, you know, if you do nothing, you end up kind of, you know, default to, to what you've got.

If you want to make a change, you know, you have to go in and take action before December 9th.

So while that sounds a little salesy, I, I'm going to say it because it's like I said for me personally, like, it's just not something I think about year over year.

Right.

Like, it's just like, oh, yeah, that's my health plan.

I got it.

I don't, I don't worry about open season, but want people to know there's a choice.

Absolutely.

Well, thanks so much, Holly.

It's been really a pleasure getting to know you a little bit better and then hearing some of the details on the program.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving and a safe Thanksgiving.

Looking forward to launching this thing.

And January 1st, can't wait, can't wait to get caught up on all my appointments without referrals.

And in the meantime, hey, the veterans out there and the service member, Happy Veterans Day.

Hope you had an amazing Veterans Day.

Make sure you're checking on one another.

It's really so important.

Wishing everybody, all my listeners and viewers, a very wonderful Thanksgiving.

And as always, be safe, be kind and be remarkable.

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