SailingSkyHawk
Observer
Not one but two successive military vets have told me that the military will pay for a PRK operation, does anybody know about this? It makes a difference for how soon I get in.
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Military will pay for PRK?
- Thread starter SailingSkyHawk
- Start date
This was my answer to one of your posts already, if you really want to be a pilot, you have to have your eyes fixed prior to submitting the application, or at least before you get your physical, otherwise you will not be qualified.
The military will pay for prior active duty servicemembers, yes, once in a while. Lets put it this way though. A guy I met was on the PRK waiting list for 2 years as a priority 3 and he is active Navy. Where do you think a prior fits into all this? Exactly. So while yes, its possible that priors can get it, its not very likely. Oh yeah, just so you know, the Navy will pay for the surgery, but most commands will not give you perdiem TAD orders--you will have to get no-cost orders. When I went, because of a delay in the surgery (the laser went down) it cost me nearly $1000 in hotels, food and gas. So, maybe your command will be nice and pay you, otherwise, they are not required to.
I just got my PRK done this Wednesday in jacksonville, if you have any questions, shoot.
I just got my PRK done this Wednesday in jacksonville, if you have any questions, shoot.
Actually, if you plan to fix your eyes first, you will need to have them fixed at least 90 days prior to your initial flight physical, because right after the surgery you are med-down 90 days non-waiverable--that includes eye physicals.
By initial physical, are you referring to the NAMI one before API, or one you got as a MIDN in order to get qualified for SNA/SNFO? I'm a 1/c MIDN going 1370 with a flight physical over a year ago, so based on this could I possibly get eye surgery (either on my dime or the Navy's) >90 days before I go to Pcola and get my NAMI physical? I've been trying to find an instruction about this online but have found nothing so far.
Yep, as long as you get your PRK at least 90 days outside of your NAMI physical, you should be fine (assuming that your eyes do indeed completely heal in those 90 days). In fact, because you are still an aviator applicant, you should be able to have the PRK down out in town civilian style and still have it waiverable. At least thats what a certain LCDR told me at NAMI (im stationed in P-Cola). However, once you are past the initial applicant phase and are a bonified SNA or better, you deffinately need to get Navy PRK because any other equals a DQ (and not the DQ with those delicious blizzards). Having said all that, I would go with the Navy PRK anyway. Its cheaper obviously, and it means more to them to do well, because if they screw up, they lose you as an asset. Plus, they have some pretty awesome new technology they have been employing with the PRK. If you get your command to give your PRI 1 and fax off your info, you can expect a 6-8 month wait time. However, I got in touch with some folks at Jacksonville and because I was transfering so soon, they pushed my wait time to less than a month.. So, depending on where you go, people can be really helpful and friendly. NOT San Diego!
...and there will be hundreds more candidates right behind you to replace you. The money the Navy has sunk into you through your commissioning program is peanuts compared to what they will sink into you through flight school.
Priority 1: Contact NOMI to find out what their requirement is, and ask them point you to where you can find it in writing.
Once you've got that settled, consider this:
Most, if not all, insurance programs will not pay for PRK, therefore doctors must rely on free-market principles in order to get and generate business (i.e. - competitive pricing, salesmanship - spending time answering your questions to make you're comfortable, and NOT SCREWING IT UP).
Of course, there are many outstanding Navy surgeons who have already performed plenty of successful PRKs without complications - but don't go into it with any delusions. Every doctor has taken the same oath, military or not, none of them want to screw it up.
If, on the chance, however miniscule, that it does get screwed up - as an active duty servicemember you cannot file a medical malpractice claim against the U.S. Government for harm done to you personally (if you're inclined to do that kind of thing).
Again, to reiterate - first find out NOMI's requirement, then decide if the risk of surgery is worth it to you. If you are successful making it to the fleet, you'll quickly learn that it's not about manipulating the controls - it's about what you do with the aircraft/weapons system while you're out there. NA/NFO - it all washes out in the end.
The info I posted is stuff I was told BY ACTUAL NOMI DOCTORS. The Navy has a vested interest in making sure PRK surgeries go correctly, not just for their "peanut" pre-coms, but for the real aviators that they've poured millions into, and as such, they have invested A LOT of time and money in making sure that it goes correctly. If you bothered to do any research, you may even find out that the procedures differ from practice to practice, especially from military to civilian where the military is keeping on the bleeding edge of PRK technology. I have been told that many guys out in town, interested to make a buck, will sell you Lasik instead of PRK, more or less talking you out of it or pulling a fast one on you--again, coming from NOMI doctors. So it would seem that the Navy may care a little more about preserving million dollar patients than a clinic would in making a quick buck. The question is not whether or not NOMI will except your PRK, the question is, do you have the time to wait for the Navy and do you have the money to pay. Remember, 90 days non-waiverable med-down right after the surgery in which you could not qual at NAMI, but it could take longer than 90 days if your eyes dont heal. But here, whether or not you believe myself or the NOMI doctors, visit this link and it has all the waiver guides: http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/NAMI/WaiverGuideTopics/ . The key for your waiver is that you are an applicant and not a pilot and therefore do not have to get your PRK done by the Navy yet.
So not to start a whole battle over this again (refering to the SCL waivers) but the secretary at the OSO office said that they're not giving out PRK waivers anymore. The NAMI site says nothing of the sort but it appears the latest waiver guide was updated last march. Anyone else hear anything about this?
I had my PRK consult done by a NAMI doctor who said i was a good candidate for PRK and if all went well, i should be set for SNA, so, I would tend to disagree with that statement. Plus at the eye center I was at, when I got my PRK done, there were a couple pilots having it done as well.