Q. What documentation will Tricare provide to the Internal Revenue Service or tax filers this year to help beneficiaries avoid the Affordable Care Act's "minimal essential coverage" tax penalty?
A. For tax year 2014 only, Tricare beneficiaries do not need to file a separate IRS tax form to prove they had minimum essential coverage under the ACA last year. You'll "self-attest" on your federal returns that you had minimum essential coverage, simply by checking the box on your federal returns where that question is asked.
Starting with tax year 2015, the Defense Department will provide required tax forms to service members, retirees, annuitants, former spouses and eligible dependents to show that they had Tricare coverage in tax year 2015. However, for DoD to do that, Tricare must be able to verify the coverage status of you and your eligible dependents based on what's listed in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.
As such, it's crucial that you keep your DEERS information — and information on all eligible dependents — up to date so Tricare can verify that you and your family members maintained minimum essential coverage in a given tax year. Social Security numbers for you and each of your covered family members must be included in your DEERS file in order for your Tricare coverage to be reflected accurately for tax purposes.
Q. My husband is in the National Guard, not mobilized at the moment. He chose to have a vasectomy three months before we met. He did not plan to ever marry again, but lo and behold here we are. I desperately want children. I know that Tricare will not cover a reversal of his vasectomy, but are there any other options? Or is there any chance of being granted an exception? My husband has agreed to try to have children, but paying for the procedures ourselves out of pocket is impossible. We just don't have that kind of money.
A. Tricare policy in this area is quite specific. Tricare covers some types of assisted reproductive services — emphasis on "some" — with the huge caveat that the services must be "medically necessary and combined with natural conception."
Services that may be covered include:
*Diagnosis and treatment for an illness or injury of the male or female reproductive system.
*Care for erectile dysfunction from physical causes only.
*Diagnostic services including semen analysis, hormone evaluation, chromosomal studies, immunologic studies, sperm function tests and bacteriologic investigation.
Tricare does not cover:
*Artificial or intrauterine insemination or any costs related to donors and semen banks.
*Reversal of tubal ligation or vasectomy.
*Care for erectile dysfunction from psychological causes, including depression, anxiety, stress and "non-coital reproductive services" such as in-vitro fertilization.
All that said, some large on-base military treatment facilities will perform vasectomy and tubal ligation reversals free, primarily as a way for military health care personnel to maintain their skills in performing that type of surgery, though the waiting lists typically are quite long.
However, that option generally is limited to active-duty members; as a nonmobilized guardsman, it's very unlikely your husband would qualify. But you can check with MTFs in your vicinity.
