Tricare Help: What happens to eligibility if pregnant daughter marries? - Military Health, Tricare programs - Military Times

Tricare Help: What happens to eligibility if pregnant daughter marries?

Q. My daughter is 19, unmarried and pregnant. She and the father want to get married. Will Tricare cover her maternity care even if she marries before the baby is born?

A. Children of active-duty or retired uniformed service members are eligible for Tricare until they turn 21 or marry, whichever comes first. If your daughter marries, her Tricare eligibility will be terminated at midnight on that day.

If she does not marry before the baby is born, she will remain eligible for Tricare, and all her maternity care, including delivery and her postnatal care, will be covered by Tricare.

However, the baby will not be eligible for Tricare even if your daughter does not marry and remains eligible. Tricare will not pay for any care the baby receives after birth.

To confirm this, and for any other questions about Tricare eligibility, call the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting Service support office at 800-538-9552.

Q. I know the president has said he is not going to do anything that will bring harm to Tricare, but politicians always say things like that. All he has to do is sign a law and there go our benefits. How can I be sure he won’t do that?

A. My mail has consisted of little else recently than letters about fears that President Barack Obama will do something to undermine Tricare. Many, like this one, show a misunderstanding about the way our government operates.

It’s not my intent to turn Tricare Help into Civics 101, but some readers seem to be unaware that the president does not make laws. He cannot order something and make it a law; he does not rule by decree.

The program now called Tricare was created by Congress when it enacted Public Law 89-614 in 1966. Tricare continues to be governed by that law, as amended several times by Congress. The president does not have the authority to change even a single comma in a federal law. That authority is vested solely in Congress.

The president has a number of proposals he would like to see Congress include in a health care reform law — none of which, he has repeatedly said, would harm government medical programs such as Medicare, veterans benefits or Tricare.

It is up to Congress to decide which proposals, if any, will be made into law.

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