Q. I'm enrolled in Tricare Young Adult. But I just graduated college and got a job that offers health benefits. How do I go about canceling my health insurance with Tricare, since I'm no longer qualified for it now that I have health insurance through my job?
A. To voluntarily disenroll from TYA, you must submit the TYA application with the disenrollment section completed, along with your requested disenrollment date. You can also make a disenrollment request by phone to the managed-care contractor for the Tricare region in which you live. You can request a disenrollment date of the last day of the month the form is postmarked or telephone request is received. You also can request a future disenrollment date, effective the last day of a future month.
Beneficiaries who want to leave TYA because they have gained employer-sponsored health coverage, as you have, may voluntarily disenroll without being locked out of TYA. That means that if for some reason you lose your employer-sponsored health coverage, you can re-enroll in TYA at any time (until you reach the mandatory cutoff age of 26). For all other disenrollment requests, a beneficiary is subject to a 12-month lockout.
If you don't expect to return to TYA, your military sponsor for Tricare eligibility purposes — presumably, one of your parents — should contact the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System to have you removed from his or her DEERS record as a dependent. Only a family's military sponsor may make changes to dependents listed on his or her DEERS record. Your sponsor can do that by visiting the ID Card/DEERS office on his or her nearest military installation or by calling the main DEERS support office in California toll free at 800-538-9552.
Q. I'm an active-duty service member. I recently found out that my fiancee is pregnant, and due to some blood pressure issues, she needs to be seen as soon as possible by an obstetrician. Will Tricare still cover the pregnancy after we are married if she starts prenatal care under the insurance she has through her employer?
A. Not to worry. Tricare places no restrictions on coverage of pre-existing conditions that predate Tricare eligibility. That includes pregnancy. As soon as you are married and you register your new bride in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, Tricare will begin covering any and all of her prenatal and post-birth medical needs, as well as any care the baby may require.
One small potential wrinkle to be aware of: Tricare is required by law to be second payer to all other health insurance. So Tricare could not act as your new spouse's primary health care coverage until she stops her employer coverage. As long as she has that other coverage, Tricare would act only as a backup second payer.
Q. I'm an active-duty member with a 25-year-old son who I support. He is enrolled in community college. Can I add him to DEERS as my dependent for Tricare purposes?
A. Eligibility for "ordinary" Tricare for dependent children who are full-time college students ends at age 23. After that, their only Tricare option is a relatively new program called Tricare Young Adult, which requires enrollment and payment of monthly premiums, and also has a few other requirements. However, TYA eligibility lasts only until age 26. At that point, children age out of all Tricare options under a military parent's sponsorship in DEERS.
You can get more information on TYA here: militarytimes.com/TYA
Q. I'm a military spouse and recently lost my military ID card. Can my husband take me to the doctor and use his military ID on my behalf?
A. Your husband's ID will not serve to verify that you are a Tricare beneficiary. You can try taking your marriage certificate, or you might try having your doctor call the main support office of the Defense Eligibility Enrollment Reporting System in California at 800-538-9552 to verify your eligibility.
The easiest thing to do is simply get a new ID card. You and your husband can do that with a short, quick visit to the ID Card/ DEERS office on your nearest military installation.
Q. I retired in 2005 from the Marine Corps Reserve as a major. I've been trying to navigate the Tricare website, but it's very unclear as to what benefits are available to retired reservists. Would I be able to use Tricare Standard as a free supplement to my employer-sponsored health insurance plan?
A. If you retired as a reservist, you are not eligible to use Tricare until you become eligible to draw military retirement pay and other retirement benefits. For most retired reservists, that is age 60, although some retired reservists may hit that benefits threshold a bit earlier if they accrued active-duty mobilization time in support of certain contingency operations.
If you have 20 years as an officer creditable toward retirement as of 2005, you're likely in your late 40s or early 50s now. So you have a bit of time to go before you can qualify for Tricare and other retirement benefits.
Q. I'm a military retiree. My wife and I are separated and are planning to divorce; we live in North Carolina, which has a one-year mandatory separation period before divorce can be granted.
My wife would qualify for continued Tricare coverage under the "20/20/20 rule," since we married before my service began and stayed married throughout my 20 years of service.
As I understand it, if she remarries or obtains other health insurance through her employer after our divorce, she is ineligible for Tricare. My question is this: What if she obtains other health insurance during our separation? Does that render her ineligible for Tricare?
A. Once your divorce is final, your wife will lose her Tricare eligibility under the 20/20/20 rule if she purchases health coverage through her employer. But as long as you remain legally married, she can use her employer-sponsored coverage as well as Tricare. The only difference is that Tricare would become second payer to her employer coverage. By law, Tricare generally must be last payer to all other health insurance.
Email tricarehelp@militarytimes.com. Include the word "Tricare" in the subject line and do not attach files. Get Tricare advice any time at http://blogs.militarytimes.com/tricarehelp/.
