Of those Select and Reserve Select were the best. The out of pocket was worth the freedom of not having to mess with managed care. Prime sucked because you were a pawn in the ever shifting capacity of your local military clinic or hospital.
FEHB isn't a Cadillac plan. It is better than some, but worse than a lot of my friends get in white collar jobs. Way more expensive than the average state or local govt job. For family coverage I pay $450 a month and still have a $700 deductible, 20% after that with a catostrophic cap of $5000 on top of $5000 in premiums. If you have a medically involved family member it is pretty easy to hit the cap every year.
The thing I worry about with all of this is the young enlisted guy with a family. That E-4 at Ft. Carson with a young wife and a new baby. That guy is probably living paycheck to paycheck where every dollar count. The retirees and officers (I'm both) have a voice through the Legion, VFW, and ROA, bit who is looking out for that kid they just sent on his third trip to Afghanistan?
The other problem comes with the disabled vets who’re living off of disability and/or retirement only.
For them the $3000 catastrophic cap can be a real killer.