Tricare Help: Medicare won’t kick in until age 65 - Getting out, military health issues - Navy Times

Tricare Help: Medicare won’t kick in until age 65

Answering your questions on Tricare.

Q. I work for the U.S. Postal Service and have a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for my wife and myself. I plan to retire next year when I am 65. I’m thinking that I should keep my USPS plan until I am 65 and use Tricare Standard as a supplement. Then I’ll apply for Medicare and Tricare for Life. My wife is 60 and plans to apply for Medicare when she is 62. Then we can drop the federal employee plan and rely on Tricare for Life. Will that work?

No, because your wife will not be eligible for Medicare until she is 65. According to the rules, a federal worker cannot cancel his federal plan and retain coverage for his spouse. You must continue your federal coverage, as well as hers. Although you should apply for Medicare parts A and B 90 days before you are 65, so you will have Tricare for Life, you will have to retain your federal plan so your wife will have coverage until she gets Medicare at age 65.

Q. For a number of years, I have had Tricare Standard plus a supplement. Soon I will turn 65 and get Tricare for Life. To have coverage as good as I have now, will I need a supplement for Medicare, for Tricare Standard, or for both?

Under Tricare for Life, Medicare will be your primary coverage. Tricare Standard will be secondary. You must get all of your civilian medical care from Medicare providers, who will file a Medicare claim for their services. If all of the items on the Medicare claim are covered by both Medicare and Tricare, Tricare Standard will act as a free Medicare supplement. It will pay everything that Medicare does not pay — usually the Medicare co-payment and, when applicable, the Medicare deductible. The combined payments by Medicare and Tricare will pay the Medicare claim, and the provider’s bill, in full. You will not need a Medicare supplement.

Sometimes there will be an item on the Medicare claim that is not covered by both plans. In that case, you will be responsible for paying the provider whatever that plan does not pay for that item — usually its co-payment and deductible.

Such claims will be uncommon, and your out-of-pocket cost in these cases likely will be small. This is not a guarantee, of course: Only you can decide whether the cost of a supplement will be worth your while.

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