Affordable Care Act impacts TRICARE beneficiaries

  • Published
  • By 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Affordable Care Act, also known as the health care reform law, requires you to maintain basic health care coverage--called minimum-essential coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

The TRICARE program is considered minimum-essential coverage under the ACA. The Internal Revenue Service will use information from the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, to verify members' coverage, so it is important for sponsors to keep their information and their family members' information up-to-date. It is also important to update DEERS when personal eligibility information changes, including military career status.

If you're using any of the following health plan options, you have the coverage required by the health care reform law:
  • TRICARE Prime
  • TRICARE Prime Remote
  • TRICARE Prime Overseas
  • TRICARE Prime Remote Overseas
  • TRICARE Standard and Extra
  • TRICARE Standard Overseas
  • TRICARE For Life
  • TRICARE Reserve Select (if purchased)
  • TRICARE Retired Reserve (if purchased)
  • TRICARE Young Adult (if purchased)
  • US Family Health Plan
TRICARE members with premium-based plans will maintain minimum-essential coverage, as long as they stay current on their payments.

Only two groups of TRICARE beneficiaries do not meet the requirement for minimum-essential coverage; those receiving care for line-of-duty-only conditions and those eligible only to receive care in military hospitals and clinics. If these individuals do not already have medical coverage meeting the minimum requirement under the ACA for their other healthcare needs, they will have to acquire it.

Most people who do not meet this provision of the law will be required to pay a fee for each month they do not have adequate coverage.

If you are eligible for TRICARE, you can explore your TRICARE program options at www.tricare.mil. If you are losing TRICARE or are not TRICARE-eligible, you can find other health care coverage options at www.healthcare.gov. For more information, visit www.tricare.mil/aca or call your TRICARE regional contractor.