Copayment

A copayment is a fixed dollar amount you pay for a covered healthcare service or drug.

Applies to: All TRICARE plans · All regions

A copayment (copay) is, in TRICARE’s words, the fixed dollar amount you pay for a covered healthcare service or drug.

Copayment, cost-share, and deductible

TRICARE keeps these terms separate:

• Copayment: a flat dollar amount for a service or prescription.
• Cost-share: a percentage of the total cost of a covered service that you pay.
• Annual deductible: the amount you pay before cost-sharing begins. See the TRICARE deductible.
• Catastrophic cap: the most you pay out of pocket each year for covered services.

Which one applies depends on your plan, your beneficiary category, and whether the provider is in the network. TRICARE’s cost-term page notes, for example, that you may pay a copayment for care from a network provider. Copayments are not the same across plans, so a figure you read on another website or in a forum may not match your plan.

Where to find the amounts

We do not list copayment amounts on this page. TRICARE publishes the current ones on its cost pages, and our plan cost comparison explains how to use them. Pharmacy copayments are on the formulary page.

TRICARE’s own cost terms page has the official definitions.