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HomeFAQsWhat is a TRICARE qualifying life event (QLE)?

FAQ

What is a TRICARE qualifying life event (QLE)?

Direct answer: A qualifying life event is a major change in your life, such as marriage, the birth of a child, or retiring from active duty, that opens a 90-day period to enroll in or change a TRICARE health plan outside of Open Season.

Applies to: All TRICARE plans · All regions

Details

What counts

TRICARE groups qualifying life events into a few kinds:

  • A change in the sponsor’s status: retiring, separating, activating, or deactivating.
  • A change in the family: marriage, divorce or annulment, the birth or adoption of a child, a court placing a child in the home, a child becoming an adult, or a death in the family.
  • Moving: relocating to a new country, city, region, or ZIP+4 code, or a child moving away to college.
  • Government-directed changes: a change to your primary care manager or health plan that you did not choose.
  • Other changes: a change in command sponsorship overseas, losing eligibility (turning 60 in the Retired Reserve, becoming eligible for Medicare), a change in another family’s eligibility in a joint-service family, and losing or gaining other health insurance.

The 90-day window

A qualifying life event opens a 90-day period for eligible enrollment changes. A QLE for one family member lets the whole family make changes. TRICARE says coverage starts on the date of the event, no matter when you submit the change. For retirement from active duty, the enrollment decision is due within 90 days of retirement.

The order TRICARE gives

  1. Update your or your family member’s information in DEERS to show the event.
  2. After the change appears in DEERS, make your enrollment change.
  3. Pay any enrollment fees or premiums due within the 90 days.

If you miss the window

If you are still eligible for your current plan and want to keep it, you do not have to do anything. If you are not enrolled in a plan, you are only eligible for care at a military hospital or clinic when space is available. After retiring, not enrolling within 90 days means losing TRICARE coverage. Outside a QLE, the way to change plans is Open Season, which TRICARE runs once a year.

Example: moving

TRICARE publishes a short video on one common QLE, moving to a new country, city, region, or ZIP code.

TRICARE’s life events page has a page for each event with its own steps.

TRICARE QLEs: Moving — Official TRICARE YouTube channel

Video summary

Moving is a qualifying life event if your new home is in another country, city, region, or ZIP code. Update DEERS, then you have 90 days from the date of your address change to change your TRICARE health plan. (Summary based on the video’s description on TRICARE’s official YouTube channel.)

What to do next

Confirm this with your Primary Care Manager or regional contractor before scheduling — rules can vary by region and by service.