Q. I retired from the Navy with more than 20 years of service and believed I had free health care for life. Now I have retired from my second career and just signed up for Medicare. Imagine my surprise when I received a bill of $104.90 a month for Medicare Part B!

I paid into Medicare Part A over my entire career and was led to understand that I'd receive free care when I reached 65 years of age. When I asked about this, I was told that by law, I must have Medicare Part B in order to keep my Tricare, and I must pay for Part B. Many, if not most, service members don't know that if they qualify for military retirement, they'll be required to pay for Medicare Part B, regardless of income level.

Why is Part B "the bedrock requirement," as you put it, for Tricare for Life eligibility? And what can I do to try to rectify this wrong?

A. You're raising several interrelated issues.

First, to sort out what you're paying for:

You note that you paid into Medicare Part A over your working life. Part A is inpatient hospitalization insurance — and that aspect of Medicare is free once you stop working.

Part B is outpatient insurance that covers visits to a doctor's office for routine checkups and minor procedures/treatments that do not require hospitalization. You never paid for Part B before you turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare — which is why you are paying a monthly fee for it now.

Whether "many, if not most," service members know that there is a fee for Medicare Part B is debatable. What's not debatable is that Part B is a requirement for Tricare for Life beneficiaries simply because of the way the 2002 law that created TFL was written.

TFL consists of Medicare as first payer and Tricare Standard as second payer; without Medicare Part B, this core combination of coverage comprising TFL could not function.

This combination covers 100 percent of your costs on the vast majority of health care claims. At a rate of $104.90 a month, that's very much on the low end of the health care cost spectrum in this country these days.

What can you do to change any of this? Twelve years after its birth, Tricare for Life seems to be operating fairly well with minimal controversy. About all you can do is write your congressman and senators to express your displeasure.

A last note: Over the years, Tricare Help has routinely heard from older retirees who insist they were promised "free health care for life" in return for serving a full career in uniform. Yet hard evidence of this promise, in writing, is as elusive as the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot.

Tricare Help would welcome hearing specifics from retirees who believe they were given this promise — when, where and by whom.

And if that promise was made in writing, we would like to see a copy. Contact us at the email address below, and type "Free Health Care for Life" in the subject line.

Email tricarehelp@militarytimes.com. Include the word "Tricare" in the subject line and do not attach files. Get Tricare advice any time at www.militarytimes.com/tricarehelp.

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