Tricare Help: A little Tricare knowledge can save you a lot - Marine Corps Health Issues | Marine Corps Times

Tricare Help: A little Tricare knowledge can save you a lot

Every month, I hear from retirees who have worked at civilian occupations since they retired. They say their civilian jobs provided health insurance, so they have never used Tricare. They plan to retire soon from their civilian occupation and want to know about Tricare and how to enroll.

Many are not aware that they become eligible for Tricare on their first day of retirement and — barring a glitch — their service automatically registers them in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System as Tricare-eligible.

Their spouse and unmarried children younger than 21 also become Tricare-eligible on that date, but the retiree is responsible for registering his family members in DEERS so they can use Tricare. Many don’t know that.

Consequently, many remain unaware — sometimes for 20 years or more — that Tricare Standard would have served as a free supplement to their employer-sponsored health insurance plan and would have paid most, or all, of that plan’s deductibles and co-payments.

Many have paid thousands of dollars out of pocket that Tricare would have paid on their behalf.

I receive similar letters from other retirees who are a month or two shy of their 65th birthday and say they have only just heard of Tricare for Life. They don’t know that federal law requires them to be enrolled in Medicare Part B immediately upon becoming entitled to Medicare Part A.

The Defense Department’s Office of Health Affairs has told me that, each year, hundreds of Medicare-eligible active-duty family members are not aware of that law, do not enroll in Part B, and lose Tricare eligibility on the day their military sponsor retires. They must enroll in Part B for eligibility to be restored.

Too many retirees or survivors are not aware of their Tricare benefits. They have given no thought to the matter previously and have no idea how or where to get the information they need.

All Tricare beneficiaries owe it to themselves and their families to spend time at Tricare’s official website to learn about their benefits. This is particularly true for those who are soon to retire, and especially reservists who don’t have the advantage of several years of experience with Tricare.

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