TRICARE Flavors and How To Taste Them

Posted by RP

October 21, 2006

Several days ago I wrote about the possibility of military retirees using the DoD TRICARE program to take care of their own medical insurance needs as well as the coverage they might be required to provide ex-spouses. We should look at this idea in a little more detail since it won’t be the best for everyone and there are some who can’t even use the program. here’s at thumbnail description of the various levels of TRICARE and how they might fit into your plans. I urge all who haven’t yet to go to the primary TRICARE site, www.tricare.osd.mil and study the easy to use TRICARE Handbook and TRICARE Fact Sheets there. The guide can be used on line or downloaded.

TRICARE Background: Prior to the 1980s, there were basically two ways for military personnel, retirees, and family members to receive military health care. Military members received treatment at military medical facilities, and retirees and family members received free treatment (space available) at military medical facilities, or could use a program known as CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program Uniformed Services) to receive government-subsidized medical care from civilian providers… Read a good military medicine/TRICARE history here

TRICARE Eligibility: These are the general qualifications. For specific eligibility see here:

Active Duty Military members, their spouses and unmarried children.
Reservist and their spouses when called to active duty
Retired Military members and families
Retired reservists and families when the reservist is in retired pay status (typically at age 60 and after)
Former spouses who meet the criteria specified in the link above … in most cases, married at least 20 years while the spouse was on duty.

TRICARE Plans: There are a number of TRICARE plans available. Her is a synopsis of a few.

TRICARE Standard. All eligible TRICARE recipients under age 65 are covered by this plan if they are not covered by another. TRICARE Standard operates as a fee for service plan in the standard medical insurance world.
TRICARE Prime. This is the plan that all active duty service members must be covered by. It operates in a fashion similar to a civilian HMO plan with member’s health care being overseen by a Health Care Manager.
TRICARE For Life. This is essentially the TRICARE Standard program modified for enrollees who are eligible for medicare.

There are a number of other plans, most of which are modifications to the manner in which the plans work for active duty members. Since the thrust of our discussion will be on retirees, we won’t attempt to cover them all here. See the complete explanation of all plans on the TRICARE main page.

Next time I’ll cover the plans in more detail, including things to consider when deciding if TRICARE is a better deal for a military retiree and/or his/her former spouse.

Disclaimer

As always remember that this site, although written by a retiree with substantial experience in the school of hard knocks, it is for personal, lay opinions and informational purposes only. If you have a legal question you should seek help from a legal professional. If you have questions involving current or future values of pensions you need an actuary or competent pension valuation expert. If your questions are tax-related, seek a competent tax advisor. In other cases, I recommend the base chaplain.

If you really need an accurate reading on a case involving these issues, Iâ€™d suggest you call Bill â€” 719-475-7529

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