Retiring from Active Duty
If your active duty sponsor will soon retire, he or she will experience a “change in status” from active duty to retired. When your sponsor’s status is updated in DEERS, you will receive a new uniformed services ID card showing the new “retired” status. With the new “retired service member” status, your sponsor will have new health care options. Until they retire, they are enrolled in either TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Prime Remote. As retired service members, they can choose to re-enroll in TRICARE Prime, or they can use TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra.
Because your status also changes to that of a family member of a retired service member, the cost-shares and catastrophic cap for TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra will increase. There are also other program changes. Here’s a quick glance at some of the changes in TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra that you’ll experience when your active duty sponsor retires:
| Outpatient Cost-Shares |
Increases to the retired family rates |
| Catastrophic Cap |
Increases to the retired family rates |
| Health Care Services |
Annual eye exams no longer covered
Hearing aids no longer covered |
| Medicare-eligibility |
Must purchase Medicare Part B to remain eligible for TRICARE |
See the TRICARE: Summary of Beneficiary Costs flyer for additional details about inpatient cost-share increases. You should look at your health care options together and determine which option best meets your family’s needs after you retire.
Becoming Entitled to Medicare
When you or another family member becomes entitled to Medicare A—due to age, disability, or end-stage renal disease—TRICARE becomes the second payer after Medicare. To remain eligible for TRICARE, you must have Medicare Part B coverage (except for active duty family members). TRICARE beneficiaries that have Medicare Part A and Part B coverage are covered under TRICARE For Life (TFL).
If you are becoming entitled to Medicare due to age (65 and over), you will receive a letter from DEERS 90 days before your 65th birthday. The letter will tell you that your benefits are about to change, that you must have Medicare Part B coverage, and that you will begin using TFL. For additional details, contact Wisconsin Physicians Service at 1-866-773-0404 or visit the TRICARE for Life page.
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