Premiums set for Tricare young adult coverage - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Premiums set for Tricare young adult coverage

Military health coverage for young adults under age 26 will cost about $200 per month, officials announced Wednesday.

The new program allows children of service members and retirees to extend their coverage beyond the traditional cutoff at age 21, or 23 for full-time students.

The Tricare health system will offer Tricare Prime coverage for $213 per month and Tricare Standard/Extra coverage for $186 per month, officials said under what is formally known as the Tricare Young Adult program.

The program is open now for enrollment, with coverage starting May 1. Coverage can be purchased retroactively to Jan. 1, if beneficiaries have saved copies of qualifying health care bills.

Concerns about rising military health costs prompted Congress to mandate that the military health system pass along the entire cost of the coverage to beneficiaries, so the rates are similar to those available in the private sector.

Tricare officials estimate that about 6 percent of those eligible — or about 14,000 young adults — will sign up for the program in 2011.

The program is the second time in recent years that Congress has ordered an expansion of coverage with the requirement that military pass along the entire cost to beneficiaries.

In October, retired reservists under age 60 were offered Tricare benefits under the Tricare Retired Reserve program, but the cost — more than $400 a month for an individual — discouraged many people, and only a few hundred initially signed up.