Military launches health care option for adult children
Interim final rule establishes premiums and regulations for dependents up to age 26.
The military's health care program is launching extended coverage for adult dependents of service members and retirees.
An interim final rule published in Wednesday's Federal Register establishes the TRICARE Young Adult Program, a provision in the fiscal 2011 Defense Authorization Act.
The new program gives unmarried dependents who don't have their own employer-based insurance the option of buying month-to-month health coverage until age 26, the Defense Department announced in January. Previously, children were eligible for TRICARE until age 21, or 23 if they were full-time students.
Those eligible will be able to purchase retroactive coverage dating back to Jan. 1, 2011. The monthly premium for young adults enrolled in TRICARE Standard/Extra programs will be $186 for 2011, and those in TRICARE Prime will pay $213 each month, according to the interim rule.
Adult dependents' program enrollment and benefits will be determined based on their sponsor's active-duty, retired or reserve status and current health care coverage.
According to Barbara Cohoon, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, families have been looking forward to the rollout of TRICARE Young Adult. Civilian plans were required by the 2010 health reform law to offer coverage until age 26, but military beneficiaries were excluded from that provision.
"We're getting closer to the time when young adults are going to age out or no longer in college, and families have been getting a little more anxious about all of that," Cohoon said. "A lot of kids start to graduate in May and would become ineligible for the current TRICARE program."
Dependents who age out of the program can purchase coverage under the Continued Health Care Benefit Program for an additional 36 months. Beneficiaries who lose TRICARE Young Adult coverage because they fail to pay premiums will be locked out of participating in the program for a year.
The public will have 60 days to comment on the interim rule.