Life Changes?
Your TRICARE Guide

When you retire from active duty, your TRICARE coverage transitions from active duty benefits to retiree benefits. You and your eligible family members can enroll in TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select as retirees. Retiree coverage requires enrollment fees and may include cost-shares and copayments that active duty members did not pay. You must update your status in DEERS within 30 days of retirement. If you are under 65, you have the choice between TRICARE Prime (managed care with PCM assignment and referrals) and TRICARE Select (PPO-style with more provider flexibility). At age 65, you must enroll in Medicare Part A and Part B to remain TRICARE-eligible through TRICARE For Life.

When you or your sponsor turns 65, TRICARE eligibility changes significantly. To maintain TRICARE coverage, you must enroll in Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and Medicare Part B (medical insurance). Once enrolled in both, you automatically qualify for TRICARE For Life (TFL), which acts as a secondary payer to Medicare. TFL has no enrollment fee and covers most of what Medicare does not, giving you comprehensive coverage. If you fail to enroll in Medicare Part B when first eligible, you may face a late enrollment penalty and a gap in TRICARE coverage. The transition must happen during your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) around your 65th birthday.

When you welcome a new child through birth or adoption, you need to register the child in DEERS and enroll them in a TRICARE plan. Newborns are automatically covered under the mother's TRICARE plan for the first 60 days of life, but you must register the child in DEERS and select a TRICARE plan within that window to avoid a coverage gap. For adopted children, coverage begins on the date of the adoption or placement for adoption, provided you register the child in DEERS promptly. Maternity care under TRICARE covers prenatal visits, labor and delivery, and postpartum care with no cost-share for active duty family members using in-network providers.

Marriage is a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) that allows you to add your new spouse to your TRICARE coverage. After getting married, you must register your spouse in DEERS within 30 days and enroll them in a TRICARE plan. Your spouse becomes eligible for the same TRICARE benefits as other dependents based on your service status (active duty, reserve, or retiree). If your spouse has employer-sponsored insurance, they can use TRICARE as secondary coverage. Dental coverage for spouses is available through the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) administered by United Concordia.

Divorce directly impacts a spouse's TRICARE eligibility. When a divorce is finalized, the former spouse generally loses TRICARE coverage unless they qualify under the 20/20/20 rule (married 20+ years, sponsor served 20+ years, with a 20-year overlap). Former spouses who meet the 20/20/15 rule receive one year of transitional TRICARE. Those who do not qualify can apply for the Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP), which provides up to 36 months of temporary, premium-based coverage. Children of the service member remain eligible for TRICARE regardless of custody arrangements. DEERS must be updated within 30 days of the divorce finalization.

When you separate from military service (non-retirement), your active duty TRICARE coverage ends on your separation date. However, you and your family members are eligible for 180 days of transitional healthcare coverage called Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP). TAMP provides the same TRICARE benefits you had on active duty at no cost. After TAMP expires, you can purchase temporary coverage through CHCBP for up to 18 months (36 months for others). You may also be eligible for VA healthcare based on your service. Planning your healthcare transition should be part of your Transition Assistance Program (TAP) participation.

When Reserve or National Guard members are called to active duty for more than 30 consecutive days, they and their families become eligible for active duty TRICARE benefits. This means access to TRICARE Prime with no enrollment fees, no copayments, and full coverage. Prior to activation, Reserve members on TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) transition to active duty TRICARE. Upon deactivation, members receive 180 days of TAMP coverage before transitioning back to Reserve benefits. Members activated for contingency operations may also qualify for early TRICARE coverage through the Pre-Activation benefit (up to 90 days before activation).

The death of a military sponsor is a devastating event, and TRICARE provides continued coverage for surviving family members. Surviving spouses and children of service members who die on active duty or in the line of duty receive TRICARE coverage for three years at active duty family member rates (no enrollment fees, no cost-shares). After three years, surviving dependents remain eligible for TRICARE as retiree dependents. Surviving spouses of retirees retain TRICARE eligibility until they remarry (before age 55). Children remain eligible until age 21 (or 23 if full-time students). DEERS records must be updated, and the Casualty Assistance Officer (CAO) typically assists with this process.

A Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to an overseas location transitions your TRICARE coverage to the TRICARE Overseas Program (TOP). Service members and command-sponsored family members stationed overseas can use TRICARE Prime Overseas (enrolled to a military treatment facility or TRICARE-authorized overseas provider) or TRICARE Select Overseas. Coverage overseas includes care at military hospitals and clinics, authorized civilian providers in the host country, and the overseas pharmacy program. Ensure all family members are command-sponsored and registered in DEERS with the overseas address. Non-command-sponsored family members remaining stateside keep their current TRICARE region coverage.

When you PCS from an overseas assignment back to the United States, your TRICARE coverage transitions from the TRICARE Overseas Program back to your stateside TRICARE region (East or West). You need to update DEERS with your new stateside address, which determines your TRICARE region and regional contractor (Humana Military for East, Health Net Federal Services for West). You must enroll in TRICARE Prime or Select within your new region and select a new Primary Care Manager. Prescriptions should be transferred to a stateside pharmacy or TRICARE mail-order service. This transition should be planned during your overseas departure process.

Many military families have access to civilian employer-sponsored health insurance through a spouse's job or the service member's civilian employment (for Reserve/Guard members). When you have Other Health Insurance (OHI), TRICARE acts as the secondary payer after your employer plan pays first. This coordination of benefits can significantly reduce your out-of-pocket costs, as TRICARE may cover remaining copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance from your primary plan. You are not required to use your employer insurance, but using both together can provide more comprehensive coverage. TRICARE must be informed of any OHI through DEERS.

TRICARE coverage for dependent children ends at specific age milestones. Most dependents lose coverage at age 21, or age 23 if enrolled full-time in college. After aging out, young adults can purchase TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) coverage until age 26, which provides TRICARE Prime or Select-level benefits at a monthly premium. TYA is a premium-based plan that serves as a bridge until the young adult obtains employer-sponsored or other coverage. Dependents who are incapacitated and unable to support themselves may retain TRICARE coverage beyond these age limits. Planning ahead is critical to avoid coverage gaps.

Remarriage affects TRICARE eligibility differently depending on your status. For former spouses who retained TRICARE eligibility under the 20/20/20 rule, remarriage before age 55 terminates TRICARE eligibility (though eligibility is restored if the subsequent marriage ends). Surviving spouses who remarry before age 55 also lose TRICARE eligibility, but those who remarry after age 55 retain coverage. When an active duty member or retiree remarries, the new spouse can be added to TRICARE after updating DEERS. Children from previous marriages may retain TRICARE eligibility depending on the sponsor relationship.

Receiving a VA disability rating can significantly expand your healthcare options. Veterans with a service-connected disability rating are placed in higher VA priority groups, often resulting in no-cost or low-cost VA healthcare. If you are also TRICARE-eligible (as a retiree or through other qualifying status), you can use both VA healthcare and TRICARE. VA healthcare is provided at VA medical facilities, while TRICARE covers care from civilian and military providers. A 50% or higher disability rating qualifies you for concurrent receipt of both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation without offset. Understanding how these two systems work together helps maximize your healthcare benefits.

Losing a job and employer-sponsored health insurance is a Qualifying Life Event that triggers changes in your TRICARE coverage. If you are TRICARE-eligible (as a military retiree, reservist, or dependent), TRICARE becomes your primary insurance when you lose employer coverage. You should update DEERS to remove the Other Health Insurance (OHI) information so TRICARE processes claims as primary. If you were using COBRA continuation coverage from your former employer, the transition to TRICARE as primary is seamless once COBRA ends. For those who are not TRICARE-eligible, job loss triggers a Special Enrollment Period on the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace.