Tricare Help: Can daughter keep Tricare if she gets married? - Military Health, Tricare programs - Military Times

Tricare Help: Can daughter keep Tricare if she gets married?

Q. I’m a disabled veteran and both my children are covered under my Tricare. My daughter thinks that if she gets married, she will still be able to use my Tricare until she’s 26. I don’t think that’s correct. Who’s right?

A. You are. Under both Tricare’s original 1966 legislation as amended — and the new law extending children’s eligibility under their parents’ insurance — children lose Tricare eligibility if they marry.

Remember that Tricare eligibility is established by federal law; Tricare does not have the authority to determine whether a given individual meets all the legal criteria for Tricare eligibility. Only the services have that authority by law.

To confirm that with an official source, please contact the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System support office, toll free, at 800-538-9552.

Q. I have been married to my husband for 17 years and we are getting a divorce. I am a veteran, too, but I left the military to raise my children. I know the children will be covered after we divorce, but is there anything I can do to keep Tricare coverage for myself?

A. The information in your letter leads me to think that you will lose your Tricare eligibility if you divorce your husband. For a spouse to retain eligibility after divorce, he or she must have been married to the same military sponsor for at least 20 years, during which time the sponsor accrued retirement credits.

You are three years short of that requirement, according to your letter. If that is correct, you will lose your Tricare eligibility at midnight of the day the divorce is final.

You are correct that the Tricare eligibility of your husband’s children will not be affected by the divorce. Their eligibility can continue until they are 26 years old under proper circumstances established by law.

Please call the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting Service support office for official information and guidance regarding all matters of Tricare eligibility. Your lawyer can also call that office. The toll-free number is 800-538-9552.

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