Homefront Help: TRICARE Young Adult Program

Those still participating actively in TRICARE will be able to access new benefits soon. Beginning this spring, qualified, unmarried military dependents up to the age of 26 can purchase TRICARE coverage on a month-to-month basis as long as they are ineligible for their own employer-sponsored health coverage. Available through the TRICARE Young Adult Program (TYAP), the insurance extends coverage past the previous age 21 or age 23 (for full-time college students) limits. Premium costs for the program have not been finalized, but the National Defense Authorization Act specifies that rates must cover the full cost of the program. At first, TYAP will be a premium-based TRICARE Standard benefit. According to the Defense Department, eligible family members who receive health care before the date the program is implemented fully may want to purchase retroactively. They should save their receipts, and premiums will have to be paid back to January 1, 2011, to obtain reimbursement.

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