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Tricare prices set for gray-area retirees

Tricare health benefits for so-called “gray area” retirees will cost $388.31 a month for single coverage and $976.41 a month for families, under proposed rules for the new program announced Friday.

The health benefits could be available by Oct. 1.

Premiums are spelled out in an interim final rule published in the Aug. 6 Federal Register that will be open for public comment until Oct. 5.

However, Tricare officials indicated they will not wait for the two-month comment period to end before opening enrollments, which they hope to do September with benefits beginning as early as Oct. 1, according to a statement.

Initial applications will have to include payment of the first month’s premium. The program is open only to gray-area retirees and their families, or the survivor of a gray-area retiree who is not enrolled or eligible for an employer-provided health plan.

They would be signing up for Tricare Standard, which allows care from off-base doctors and the possibility — but no guarantee — of treatment in military facilities.

Gray area retirees — totaling about 180,000 — are National Guard and reserve members who have accumulated enough service to qualify for military retirement but are not yet old enough to begin receiving benefits.

For most Guard and reserve retirees, benefits do not begin until age 60.

The Tricare Reserve Retired program, mandated by Congress, will provide temporary benefits for those waiting for retirement checks to begin, as long as they are willing to pay unsubsidized premiums.

The $388.31 rate for single coverage and $976.41 for family coverage will apply only for the remainder of calendar year 2010.

For 2011, premiums will be $408.01 for single coverage and $1,020.05 for family coverage, according to the announcement.

Rates, which will adjust every year, are based on the Tricare Management Agency’s estimation of the actual cost of providing care to those who enroll, and were determined by reviewing health care data for military retirees and the coverage for families of military retirees in 2007 and 2008, plus additional money for overhead costs.

In addition to the premiums, those enrolled in the Tricare Retired Reserve program would have the same deductibles and copayments as other retirees with Tricare Standard coverage.

That includes a deductibles of $150 for an individual and $300 for a family, and a copayment of 25 percent of the allowable cost for doctor’s visits and emergency room visits.