Tricare help: Fiancee needs coverage, ASAP - Military Health, Tricare programs - Military Times

Tricare help: Fiancee needs coverage, ASAP

Q. My fiancee and I were planning to marry at Christmas, but she has been hospitalized and may need surgery. Pending our marriage and relocation, she just quit her job and has no health insurance. If we were to marry now, how soon would her Tricare take effect? Can we get married in the hospital? Would having a pre-existing condition affect her Tricare eligibility?

A. Tricare doesn’t care where you are married. Your wife will become eligible for Tricare the moment you are legally married.

You will have to contact your servicing military personnel office, however, to apply for her military benefits before she can file Tricare claims. She must be registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting Service.

Tricare has no restrictions governing pre-existing conditions, so the fact that she’s hospitalized when you get married should cause no problems.

I suggest you call Tricare now about enrolling her in Tricare Prime as soon as you are married. Ask the Tricare Prime office how she can be covered under that plan immediately and avoid the Point of Service option because she is currently under medical care. There will be some administrative details to work out with Tricare due to her unusual situation.

Q. I’m a 61-year-old retired reservist who needs new glasses. What kind of vision coverage does Tricare provide?

A. For retirees, Tricare cannot cover refractions — that is, measurements of your eyes for glasses. Near- and farsightedness are not considered to be eye diseases and generally are not covered.

Tricare also does not have a benefit for eyeglasses or contact lenses for any beneficiary, except in the case of a few specific but uncommon eye conditions, and for one pair of spectacles or contact lenses following an intraocular lens implant.

Although Tricare cannot cover the kind of vision care you ask about, it does provide coverage for the medical and surgical treatment of diseases of, or injuries to, the eye, including the replacement of the eye’s natural lens if it is lost for any reason.

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 blog www.militarytimes.com/tricarehelp.