Tricare Help: If reservist dies before 60, what happens to survivors? - Marine Corps Health Issues | Marine Corps Times

Tricare Help: If reservist dies before 60, what happens to survivors?

Answering your questions on Tricare.

Q. My husband is a 55-year-old reservist. We have three children under age 18. What would happen to our insurance coverage if he were to die before turning 60 years old?

Unless you remarry, you will become eligible for Tricare for the rest of your life on your husband’s 60th birthday, even if he dies before that date.

Regardless of what you do, however, your children also will become eligible for Tricare on that date. Their eligibility will last until they marry or turn 21 years old, whichever comes first; or 23 years old if the child is a full-time college student.

You need to learn how to keep your family’s Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System records and military ID cards up to date. That is essential for the continued use of Tricare.

For official information regarding Tricare eligibility and for help with DEERS and ID card updating, please call the DEERS support office at 800-538-9552.

Q. My wife has Tricare as a direct result of my wartime military service. Her eligibility is carried in DEERS under my Social Security number, not hers. By the same token, therefore, when I get Medicare and Tricare for Life next year, should she not get it at the same time although she is only 59?

There are circumstances in which one spouse’s Medicare entitlement confers entitlement on the other spouse, but your circumstances don’t qualify for that purpose. Your wife must meet all the requirements for Medicare entitlement established by federal law.

Additionally, to be eligible for Tricare for Life, your wife must be eligible for Tricare, be legally entitled to free Medicare Part A, be enrolled and have Medicare Part A and Part B in effect, and have her DEERS registration correct and current.

Until she meets those requirements, probably when she gets Medicare at age 65, your wife’s Tricare eligibility most likely will continue as it is at present.

To confirm those rules, and for official answers to all questions about Tricare eligibility, please call the DEERS support office at 800-538-9552.

It’s important to note that the rules for Tricare eligibility are established by law; DEERS does not have the authority to change them or to make exceptions.

For official information about the requirements for your wife’s Medicare entitlement, please contact the Social Security Administration.

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Write to Tricare Help, Times News Service, 6883 Commercial Drive, Springfield, VA 22159; or e-mail us. In e-mail, include the word “Tricare” in the subject line and do not attach files. Get Tricare advice anytime on our blog.