Military Kids Deserve Better: End TRICARE Young Adult
One of the best parts of parenthood is celebrating milestones with your child. As parents, we savor these moments. But for military parents, milestones like turning 21 or graduating from college that should come with celebration now come with a new worry, one that isn’t shared by most of their civilian neighbors and friends: what health care coverage will our child have now?
Aging Out of TRICARE and Into TRICARE Young Adult
Military kids are only covered by TRICARE until the age of 21, or 23 if they’re enrolled in college. Parents are left with the question: what do we do about coverage for health care? For many military families, the answer is to enroll their child in TRICARE Young Adult (TYA). TYA is a premium-based plan available to young adult military dependents until the age of 26. Families can choose either TYA Prime or Select. The plans offer the same coverage as the basic TRICARE benefit, but at a hefty price tag. For 2021, it costs $257 per month for TYA Select. Premiums for TYA Prime are a whopping $459 per month.
Is TRICARE Young Adult Worth the High Price Tag?
The high cost of TYA forces some families to make difficult decisions about their children’s future. One military parent shared, “Our daughter is college-age but has special education concerns. So full time college is not ideal, but we feel we must encourage it because of health insurance.”
TRICARE policies also penalize young adults whose academic achievements allow them to finish college early. Another military parent told us her oldest child worked hard in college and graduated in three years, at age 21, “She lost a year’s worth of free coverage by graduating early.”
Some families are surprised to learn that TRICARE coverage for their young adult children requires a separate enrollment and premium. They point to their civilian neighbors with commercial employer-based health coverage, whose kids are automatically covered by their policies up to age 26 and wonder, why the disparity? We wonder the same thing.
Young Adult Dependents Deserve a Better Option for Health Care Coverage
We’re proud to support H.R. 475, the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act. Sponsored by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), this bill would eliminate TRICARE Young Adult and automatically extend TRICARE coverage to young adult dependents up to the age of 26, just like every other employer-based insurance plan.
No military family, serving and sacrificing so much for this country already, should have to decide between their child’s future and their child’s health care coverage. Today’s young adult dependents are the same kids who watched their parents deploy multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan. They deserve the same protection afforded to other young adults whose parents have employer-based health coverage. Congress must pass H.R. 475 and address this inequity.
Do you have young adult children who are enrolled in TRICARE Young Adult? How is the financial impact affecting your family? Share your story with us.
By: Eileen Huck, Government Relations Deputy Director
Hello
I am a mother of an incapacitated special needs young adult aged 21 as of this September 2022. We have lost our Tricare coverage for him due to Tricare age out policy.
Can you tell me what the status is on HR 475 bill?
Also do you know of contact person(s) or organization working in this bill.
Thank you
Cathy Fritz
So it would seem that because I want to stay in the Army past my kids 23rd birthday I am getting penalized. If I retired and got a civilian insurance I could keep them on my insurance until they are 26.
How come Tricare is not aligned with the ACA? It’s not like Tricare is free for Reservists and National Guard folks.
I guess Support the Troops has it’s limits.
What is the stats of HR 475?
I fully support H.R.475 and and hoped that Congress would have recognized and approved this for military young adult dependents.
Like the previous comment we had to fast pace our dependent son to complete his degree before turning 23 in order to keep his Tricare Prime. It only seems fair for Congress to recognize Tricare under their AHC Act provision to allow coverage to continue until age 26 under the parent’s health care insurance. Military dependents are no different when it comes to health. Even Tricare encourages no gap coverage…”It’s essential for young adults to avoid any gaps in their health care coverage”, according to Dr. Danita Hunter, chief of TRICARE Policy and Program.” (TRICARE Communications/NEWS, May 12, 2022). If Congress reasonably recognized the need to allow for health care coverage during this transitioning time for young adults from school to career under the AHC Act and Tricare agreed in principle by encouraging no gap coverage for same, it should be reasonable then for Congress and TRICARE to agree on ways and means to fund and satisfy TRICARE’s independence by exception and move quickly to approve this fair and right HR 475 -Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act of 2021.