For those who spend any time online, the requests are endless: “Answer this one question,” “Take this quick poll,” “Before you go, can you rate your experience on a 0-10 scale and then give us all your personal data?”

Not all surveys are created equal. But MOAA’s TRICARE and Military Health Care Survey is worth your time for countless reasons, including the five listed below:

1. Share your stories. From fighting planned TRICARE rate increases to sounding the alarm on proposed military medical cuts, MOAA remains committed to ensuring high-quality, easy-to-access medical care for all service-connected beneficiaries. But alongside efforts on Capitol Hill, our staff relies on ground-level input from members and others on whether the programs being discussed inside the Beltway are working outside of it. These surveys compile that much-needed data.

[TAKE ACTION: Fill Out the Survey Here]

2. What about the cuts? DoD plans call for 1 in 5 military medical billets to go away, and while House lawmakers have included language in their version of the annual defense authorization bill that would make the Pentagon justify the cuts, the Senate has yet to do so. As MOAA monitors the debate, your voice can help shape the response to this decision.

An example: If TRICARE recipients cite problems with finding private-sector providers in an area near a military installation, those appointments would become even scarcer if military physicians were removed from the equation. The opposite also holds: A wide-open private-practice calendar may be able to host more service-connected beneficiaries. Whichever the case, surveys like these can point MOAA and others toward the right answers.

[RELATED: MOAA's Military Medical Cuts Fact Sheet (PDF)]

3. Keep on tracking. MOAA has surveyed the military beneficiary population for more than a year. Previous surveys show a majority of beneficiaries view their TRICARE benefit as one for which they are paying more and receiving less; these findings come after a January 2018 policy change that led to higher cost shares for many TRICARE users. Have the higher fees resulted in better care? Is the trade-off worth it? Only these surveys can shed light on the matter.

4. Shine a light. Satisfaction dropped a bit in recent surveys among TRICARE for Life users, but the overall satisfaction rate remained well above 90%. That’s an impressive figure for any federal program, and it’s worth highlighting as MOAA seeks improvements in other areas. All experiences, positive and negative, assist in directing advocacy efforts – surveys such as this allow MOAA to reach out to beneficiaries who may not otherwise be motivated to provide such details.

[RELATED: What Would Major Cuts to Military Medical Personnel Mean to Your Care?]

5. Matter of trust. Don’t worry – nobody’s asking for any personal financial data. Answers are anonymous, but with thousands of beneficiaries weighing in, they serve as a meaningful barometer for the military health system at large.

Click here to take the survey, and check back at MOAA.org in the coming months for results and analysis. Know another beneficiary, or want to share the survey on social media? Send your friends and followers to MOAA.org/tricare-survey-2019.