I did a search on this forum and did not find this topic, so hopefully I'm not covering old ground here.
I am almost exactly two years away from getting my first retirement check at age 60. Along with that comes eligibility for Tricare as a retired Reservist drawing my Army pension.
So, I've tried to read everything I can on the subject, and as with most government stuff, I'm now more confused than informed.
From what I've read, I have two major questions:
1. True cost. At first glance, Tricare seems to be literally orders of magnitude cheaper than continuing to pay for my civilian employer's retiree coverage. Too good to be true in fact.
2. Versions of Tricare. From what I've read, there are at least three versions or options, yet I can't find any criteria on deciding on what is the best fit for my particular situation. In fact, it appears that some of the options are strictly by local geography and services offered there.
Can anyone suggest a reliable source of Tricare information to assist in my planning for the next 24 months and beyond?
From what I understand, when you reach your 60th, you automatically get Tricare Standard (which is free) as a retiree. (Just make sure you contact DEERS and find out if you need to take anything with you to your local ID office to make sure its updated and you have your ID card.) If you choose to you can pay a fee and upgrade to Tricare Prime as a retiree. Then when you become eligible for Medicare part A, make sure you purchase Medicare part B so you can have Tricare for Life pick up on what Medicare does not pay. I hope this helps.
If you want to check online, check here: http://www.tricare.mil/. There are a lot of links, so you can find the part that applies to you. I'd check into the 'free' part that chipsmom mentioned, as mine is not free. I have Tricare Prime, and it is very affordable though. Congratulations and good luck!
I appreciate the info. Compared to what I would pay for coverage from IBM as a retiree, this is phenomenal. Will definitely look at Tricare first.
"mom" is correct. Tricare Standard is in fact free. Prime is something like $460/year per family. In comparison, IBM retiree medical plan will cost me something like $700 a month at age 60.
