Do I really have to buy the Young Adult Plan for my daughter?
October 6th, 2011 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Under Obama’s health care reform, children can be covered under their parents’ policy as long as the child is single and younger than 26. I have a daughter who just graduated from college. She is 22 and is in the process of looking for a job. I have the family plan with Tricare that costs between $450 to $500 per year. Can my daughter still be covered under this family plan? I spoke with one office and was told that I would have to buy young adult insurance for a fee double what the family plan is now costing me. Which is correct?
Because your daughter has reached her 21st birthday but is no longer enrolled as a full-time student, her only option for Tricare eligibility is under the Young Adult Plan.
If she were to enroll again as a full-time student, her Tricare eligibility could be restored for as long as she was enrolled, but only until she turned 23. Then, as now, she could be eligible only under the Young Adult Plan until reaching age 26.
To officially confirm which Tricare plan your daughter is eligible for, please call the DEERS Support Office, toll-free, at 1-800-538-9552.
Why can’t I just be on family’s plan instead of Tricare Young Adult?
July 7th, 2011 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Q. I don’t understand the Tricare program(s) I am eligible for. I am a 24-year-old unemployed college student, and my father is on active duty. The rest of my family has Tricare Prime. As I read the health care reform law, I should be legally qualified to be added onto the Prime plan. But when I called Tricare, they told me I am eligible for the Tricare Young Adult Plan. This is not my parents’ plan. Why is Tricare not following the law?
The Young Adult program is the Defense Department’s implementation of the new law regarding the extension of dependent children’s eligibility for their parent’s insurance coverage beyond the previous, virtually universal, cut-off age of 19 or 21 in the health insurance industry generally.
The information you received is what the law provides for your extended eligibility, even if it is not exactly, and in all respects, the same plan your parents have.
Tricare is not a health insurance policy or an insurance company. The program now known as Tricare is a federal health benefits program created in 1966 by federal law. It is similar in that respect to Medicare. It is not subject to the laws that govern the insurance industry in any state.
All of Tricare’s operations including eligibility requirements are governed by the federal law enacted by Congress in 1966 that created the program now known as Tricare and the subsequent federal regulation that interprets and implements that law. Federal regulations have the force and effect of law.
Laws seldom spell out in detail exactly what is to be done, when, and by whom. Each agency affected must draft regulations to interpret a law as it applies to that agency’s operations (which are determined by the agency’s enabling legislation; that is, the law that created the agency).
You cannot simply be added to your parents’ Tricare plan because the Defense Department’s interpretation and implementation of the law do not allow it. Because of your age, you are in a different category of beneficiary.
News Update: Tricare Young Adult Program
April 27th, 2011 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Tricare has announced the premiums.
Can I keep Tricare until age 26 if I get married?
March 7th, 2011 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Q. I am 20 years old and a Tricare dependent. I am looking at getting engaged and was wondering what would happen to my dependency. My understanding is that, currently, I will lose my coverage when I turn 21 or when I become married. But I have heard that the new health care extends that to age 26 even if a dependent is married. Is that true?
No; Congress recently passed a law that allows the Defense Department to extend the eligibility of unmarried children until age 26 under certain circumstances. The coverage will require payment of a monthly premium. That amount is yet to be determined.
You can find official information about Tricare’s Young Adult Program here.
News update: DoD expands Tricare coverage for older children
January 14th, 2011 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
When can dependents get Tricare until age 26?
November 10th, 2010 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Q. My daughter is a full-time student, and at age 23 she was dropped from my health coverage. Under the new health care plan, will she qualify for coverage again until 26 years of age?
The new law applies only to commercial health insurance policies and companies. Tricare, however, is not a health insurance policy or company. It is a federal health benefits program similar in that respect to Medicare. Thus, the new law does not apply to it.
An initiative has been introduced to apply that part of the law to the children of active duty and retired members and extend their eligibility to age 26. At this time, however, such a change is in the hands of Congress, and the old law remains in effect until Congress acts to change it.
If and when Congress approves the initiative, it will be widely publicized.
Why can’t students keep Tricare coverage until age 26?
October 14th, 2010 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Q. I want to know why Tricare does not extend the benefit for college students intil the age of 26. You would think that would be a big help to the military family. Why shouldn’t the military community have this benefit?
The new health care reform law enacted by Congress earlier this year applies to health insurance policies and companies.
Tricare is neither health insurance nor an insurance company. It is a federal health benefits program created by Public Law 89-614, effective on July 1, 1966. As a result, the new law does not apply to Tricare.
All Tricare operations are governed by federal law and regulation. That includes covered and noncovered services, rules for filing claims, methods and amounts of payments, and the like.
The law that created the program now called Tricare is specific in establishing the criteria for Tricare eligibility, including the ages at which the eligibility of children ends.
Tricare eligibility for most children ends, by law, when they marry or turn 21 years old, whichever comes first.
If a child is a full-time student at an accredited college, university, or trade school, and his military sponsor pays at least 50 percent of his or her financial support, Tricare eligibility ends at marriage, graduation, failure to be enrolled as a full-time student, or reaching age 23, whichever comes first. Again, these requirements are a provision of federal law.
To effect a permanent change in the law that governs the ages at which Tricare eligibility ends would require action by Congress to change the law that governs Tricare or to enact a law that supercedes it. Only Congress can make or change a federal law.
Now the good news.
A bill was submitted for inclusion in the Defense Authorization Act for 2011 that will allow certain children to be authorized the extension of their Tricare benefits to age 26. Details are not available because it is likely that some elements of the bill, as originally written and submitted, will be changed for it to be passed by the Congress.
If the bill is passed by Congress, some unknown amount of time will pass before it can be implemented by the Defense Department.
News update: Tricare and health care reform
April 15th, 2010 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
The chances that Congress will allow military and retiree dependents to keep Tricare coverage until age 26 improved Wednesday when 22 senators introduced their version of the Tricare Dependent Coverage Extension Act.
News update: Tricare and health care reform
April 13th, 2010 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Here’s the latest news: Although military and congressional leaders insisted it wasn’t necessary, the Senate gave final approval Monday to a bill intended to reassure Tricare beneficiaries that national health care reform won’t require them to buy additional health insurance or to pay a penalty if they do not.
News update: Tricare and health care reform
April 8th, 2010 | TriCare Help | Posted by Military Times
Military Times’ latest report on what health care reform could mean for Tricare is online, including a Q&A section.