119,000 Retired Military Beneficiaries Still Haven t Set Up Payment Plans for Tricare Select
Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic holds the annual Retiree Summit and Career Fair at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, November 1, 2019. (U.S. Navy/Spencer Layne)
16 Mar 2021
Military family advocates are worried that some beneficiaries dropped from the Defense Department s Tricare Select health program in January won t know they don t have health coverage until they go see a doctor.
These beneficiaries working-age military retirees and their family members who were enrolled in the Tricare Select health program last year failed to set up payment plans for enrollment fees introduced Jan. 1, leaving them without access to comprehensive health care coverage under Tricare.
Lose Your Tricare Select Coverage? Here s How to Get It Back
In this June 19, 2012 file photo, Dr. Bruce Stowell examines a patient at his office in Grants Pass, Ore. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
17 Feb 2021
You may have heard that some military retirees now have to pay an annual enrollment fee for Tricare Select health insurance coverage. But what can you do if you neglected to make that payment and saw your Tricare coverage stop because of it?
Tricare has released instructions on how to reinstate health insurance coverage, but retirees must make any necessary payments by June 30 or risk losing coverage for the remainder of the year. They also must make payments retroactive to the beginning of the year to reinstate their lapsed insurance coverage.
Retiree’s wife: Here’s what to do if you think you’re still covered under Tricare Select Working-age retirees should make sure they ve paid their newly required enrollment fees for Tricare Select. An Army retiree’s wife has a warning for other retirees and their family members: Check to make sure you are still covered under Tricare Select even if you set up payments for the new enrollment fees last year. “I would highly recommend anyone who believes they are enrolled in Tricare Select to verify their enrollment is active, or at least verify the monthly withdrawal is happening as expected,” said Constance Hathaway. On Feb. 8, the day before a scheduled medical procedure, she and her husband an Army retiree discovered they no longer had health insurance through Tricare West although they had set up their automatic payment in October.
124,000 retirees and family members were dropped from Tricare Select. Here’s what you can do February 9 Working age retirees and their family members who were dropped from Tricare Select coverage have until the end of June to reinstate their health care coverage. (DoD) About 124,000 working age retirees and their family members are finding their Tricare Select coverage has been dropped, because they haven’t set up a payment plan for new fees that went into effect Jan. 1. But beneficiaries in this group have been getting the message. More than 54,000 beneficiaries took the action to restore their Tricare Select coverage in January. Defense Health Agency officials have given beneficiaries until the end of June to reinstate coverage.
Fauci, first lady, military leaders urge dubious military families to get the facts on COVID-19 vaccine February 4 Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, left, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, participate in a town hall. (screenshot via YouTube) After their recent poll showed that more than half of military families don’t plan to get the COVID-19 vaccination, Blue Star Families brought in the big guns including Dr. Anthony Fauci, first lady Jill Biden, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife Hollyanne to urge military families to get the facts before making their decisions.