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TRICARE is committed to meeting the health care needs of Reserve Component* members and their families before, during and after activation. If you are a member of the Reserve Component, you may move on and off of active duty several times throughout your career. While it’s good to know that TRICARE covers you and your family to some degree during each stage, it can also be confusing and difficult to navigate. The above graphic illustrates a simple overview to help you understand your coverage.

You can be in any one of these stages and, depending on how often you are called to active duty, some of them may overlap. The first step for determining your coverage is to identify your military status:

• Military duty for 30 days or less—This is typically a drill weekend, including travel to and from your place of duty.
• Pre-activation (early eligibility)—If you are called or ordered to active duty in support of a contingency operation and you have received delayed-effective-date orders, this applies to you.
• Activated for more than 30 consecutive days—You are covered as an active duty service member and your family is considered active duty family members while you are on active duty.
• Upon leaving active duty—This is the time period immediately following your active duty service, also known as de-activation.

For more information about the TRICARE health care program options available to you and your family, visit TRICARE Reserve or contact Humana Military at 1-800-444-5445.

TRICARE Dental Program
The TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) is a voluntary dental plan you may purchase. When you are on active duty, you are covered by active duty dental benefits instead of TDP. Your family, however, may purchase and use TDP at any time. For more information about TDP, including costs, covered services and finding a dentist, contact the TDP contractor, United Concordia Companies, Inc. at 1-800-866-8499 or visit them online.

Verify Eligibility
To verify your eligibility for TRICARE during any one of the stages of health care coverage, visit the Guard Reserve Portal. Family member eligibility is determined by the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). Be sure to register your family in DEERS and keep their information current to avoid lapses in their TRICARE benefits.

Commissary Tours Help Customers Make "Healthy Choices"  (Article 6)
By Guest Contributor, Cherie Huntington, Defense Commissary Agency

Ten years ago, Tina Morris and the Naval Air Station Oceana Commissary in Virginia launched a partnership that’s still thriving today. The partnership is as healthy as the healthy choices she promotes.

Morris, a registered nurse and health educator at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital Wellness Department, found the commissary the ideal place to spotlight twin benefits: healthy food choices and the best prices in town.

“People tend to think eating healthy is more expensive,” explains Morris. “I teach them they can go in the commissary, shop healthy and still stay within their budget. The commissary makes that possible. I tell them, ‘Come with me and I’ll show you how to shop smart!’”

Morris offers commissary tours to those who have special health concerns, as well as those with little knowledge of proper nutrition. Whether the person is overweight, diabetic, suffering from heart disease or cancer, or a perfectly healthy person who eats on the run, she works with individuals to show them what the commissary can offer.

“I help people eat the way they need to eat,” says Morris. “I also tell them it takes more time, but we have to take more time for the sake of our health.”

She doesn’t hesitate to take her “healthy choices at the commissary” show on the road, either.

“I go to the commands, to the squadrons, to the fitness center and remedial weight control group meetings and set up a display with samples or a cooking demo,” Morris says. “I take a vegetable tray and pass it around, and I ask them, ‘What will it take for you to like these vegetables? Maybe some dip or some low-calorie dressing?’ I tell them they can purchase the items at the commissary and urge them to use their benefit while they improve their health.”

According to Mary Sims, a dietician who works with Morris, “When I’m shopping, I often see people with puzzled looks on their faces as they study a label for the product’s nutritional value. The label gives them important information, but they may not know how to interpret it. Plus, the information tends to be one size fits all, when there are as many different needs as there are people.

“We can teach a lot in class, but to walk through the store like this with customers actually doing their grocery shopping truly brings it home and makes it more realistic for them. Customers pick up products they use and ask questions, and we can discuss healthy alternatives one-on-one.”

To learn more about your local commissary, visit the Defense Commissary Agency’s (DeCA’s) Website. The site also offers a link to TRICARE’s “Healthy Choices for Life” Web site.

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Last Reviewed:  December 4, 2007