The Military Health System offers service members and their families contraceptive care services—including access to all forms of medical and surgical contraception—for men and women.
Taking care of the male and female reproductive systems is "vitally important for overall health during all life stages," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Matthew Banti, a urologic oncologist at Tripler Army Medical Center, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"However, in the military, we often put the mission ahead of ourselves," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. (Dr.) Meghan Ozcan, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist at 88th Medical Group - Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio.
And "part of building resiliency and a strong force is ensuring we meet out personal goals," she said.
MHS Services
MHS reproductive health care services include preventative care, gynecologic treatment, and urologic treatment, said Ozcan.
The services "can help people planning to conceive start out their fertility journey with a healthy foundation," she said.
Women can also get a range of services, from birth control pills, IUDs, hormonal shots, and slow-release hormonal rods, which go under the skin, and permanent surgical sterilization (this is available for men, too).
And TRICARE patients who are referred to civilian providers will no longer have to pay cost-shares or copayments for any TRICARE-covered reversible medical contraceptives, she added.
The MHS provides diagnostic evaluation for infertility in men and women, said Ozcan. It also undertakes procedures to terminate a pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy is an eminent threat to the mother’s life, she added.
Military hospitals and clinics can also offer vasectomy as a surgical option for male beneficiaries who wish to avoid pregnancy with their partner, said Banti. Urology providers can reverse prior vasectomies as well as extract sperm from the testicles to be used for advanced reproductive techniques, he added.
"Vasectomy is a safe, highly effective surgical form of permanent male contraception that is performed in an office environment with minimal recovery time required," explained Banti.
Likewise, MHS fertility treatment providers can provide surgical correction, if appropriate, such as for blockages, said the experts. They can also correct hormone imbalances and provide medications to manage diseases and to improve ovulation, they said.