Military families commonly struggle to find high quality, affordable child care. While a lack of affordable child care is a national issue, the problem is even more acute for service members, who move frequently, often work irregular hours, or live far from extended family.

Under the Affordable Care Act, commercial health insurers are required to automatically cover young adult dependents under their parents’ plans up to age 26. However, TRICARE is exempt from this requirement. Instead, TRICARE only covers young adult dependents up to age 21, or 23 if enrolled in college. Military families who want their young adult children to retain TRICARE coverage must purchase a separate premium-based plan, TRICARE Young Adult.

Not only is this inequity unfair to military families, it’s also a financial burden on young adult dependents and their parents. Under law, TRICARE Young Adult must operate at no cost to the government, so enrollees and their families bear the entire cost. And those costs have skyrocketed. From 2020 to 2021, the monthly premium for TRICARE Young Adult Prime increased by more than 20 percent, to over $450 per month.

The current system also unfairly penalizes young adult dependents who are unable or choose not to attend college. Those young adults lose coverage under their parents’ TRICARE plan upon turning 21.

Today’s young adult military dependents are the same kids who watched their service member parent deploy over and over again. Their childhoods were disrupted by multiple PCS moves. Now in many cases their job prospects and educational plans have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. They deserve the same health care coverage as their civilian peers.

Too many military families struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table. Hunger within the military community is not a new or isolated problem, and military families should benefit from the same social safety net programs that support their civilian neighbors and friends. Yet thousands of military families continue to fall through the cracks as they don’t qualify for these programs.

Due to the inclusion of basic allowance for housing (BAH) in determining income eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), struggling military families continue to visit food pantries and distribution sites on or around every military installation to make ends meet.

How It Affects Military Families

• Effects mostly junior enlisted families. According to our 2021 survey findings of 11,359 service members and families on active orders between the ranks of E-1 – E-6, 14 percent have gone to food banks in the last year to make ends meet.
• Food pantries operate on or near every military installation – four near Camp Pendleton alone.
• The number one cause of food insecurity is financial instability which is often aggravated by high spouse unemployment and underemployment, frequent moves that result in unexpected out-of-pocket expenses, and the high cost associated with housing and child care.

The majority of military families may never face food insecurity, and for those who do it is often a short-term problem that is resolved through promotion. However, we firmly believe no military family should ever struggle to put food on the table, especially when programs exist that can provide support. Instituting a basic needs allowance would provide much-needed support to the youngest, most vulnerable military families while enhancing to mission readiness, encouraging retention, and contributing to the fitness and wellbeing of the future force.