Tricare Help: Retiree-to-be may register with DEERS as spouse - Getting out, military health issues - Navy Times

Tricare Help: Retiree-to-be may register with DEERS as spouse

Answering your questions on Tricare.

Q. My husband is a military retiree who uses Tricare for Life. I’m about to retire from active duty myself, with about 36 years of service, but I will be only 55 upon my retirement date. I’m told I would have to pay about $480 per year to keep Tricare. But at that point, couldn’t I be considered my husband’s dependent and pay nothing?

Based on the information in your letter, I see no reason why you cannot be registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System as being eligible for Tricare as your retired husband’s spouse.

I recommend that you call the DEERS support office at 800-538-9552 to confirm your Tricare eligibility and to get help with the administrative things that must be done for your enrollment. DEERS will answer all your questions about Tricare eligibility.

Q. My son is engaged to a military retiree’s dependent who is covered under Tricare. Under the new health care law, my son will still be covered under my insurance until age 26 regardless of marital status. What will happen to his fiancée’s Tricare coverage status when they get married?

Under current policy, a child automatically loses Tricare eligibility when they marry or reach age 21 (23 if a full-time college student), whichever comes first.

However, if your son and his fiancée delay their wedding, she will soon also be able to stay under her retiree parent’s Tricare coverage through age 26 because the Defense Department has finally formalized its plan to bring Tricare in line with the national health care reform law enacted last year.

The new initiative, called the Tricare Young Adult Program, or TYAP, will offer Tricare Standard benefits. Enrollment is expected to begin later this spring. Once that happens, families with eligible dependent children will be able to obtain retroactive coverage to Jan. 1, officials said.

But again, to be eligible for that program, older dependent children must be unmarried. They also must not be eligible for their own employer-sponsored health insurance.

Premiums for the new coverage have not been announced.

Write to Tricare Help, Times News Service, 6883 Commercial Drive, Springfield, VA 22159; or e-mail us. In e-mail, include the word “Tricare” in the subject line and do not attach files. Get Tricare advice anytime on our blog.