I'm new here, and a non-military father of a disabled daughter who is the spouse of a retired military man. One of her daughter-in-laws is in active military service, and is talking about taking my daughter on as a dependent. Is this feasible? I'm having difficulty getting reliable information elsewhere. Thanks
The military member will have to file a claim through her local Military Finance Office. As part of the claim, they will have to fill out lots of paperwork, showing that she provides more than 50% of your daughter's total support.
If, after review, the claim of support is approved, she would become a Military Dependent. This would mean she would receive an ID card, have access to base facilities, be able to relocate with the family at government expense, etc.
Part of that review will be to address why the DIL would need to add your daughter as a dependent, given the dependency requirement for enlistment in the first place.
If they are successful in making your daughter a military dependent, she is pretty much eligible for all dependent benefits, except Tricare [unless that has been changed recently, and I've not caught the update].
However, she can be treated at Military Hospitals, on a space-available basis.
Do a Google search for DD Form 137-3 and that is the form to submit for this. That will give you an idea of what information they require to process this.
1) Your daughter is married to a Military retiree 2) Their daughter (your granddaughter in law) is Active Duty and has talked about getting her listed as a dependent.
If your son in law (her husband) is a military retiree then he should be getting all the benefits of a retiree. So she is already a dependent and it will be very difficult for her to go from a dependent that way to a dependent of someone who is AD.
Thank you ladies for your informative replies. The goal is for better Tricare than present under her husband's entitlement. I'm now wondering about sgtmom's comment about "except Tricare". Navywifein paradise has a pretty good basic understanding of the situation, and I've looked at the complicated forms she mentions. It's a complicated and unfortunate family situation, with a large fly in the ointment so to speak. Thanks very much for the information for Old Dad.
as a secodnary dependent she would be a LOWER category than she is now as the spouse of a retiree for Tricare. she would only be eligible for on base care on a Space A basiss and NOT at all off base.
she's better off sticking with the status Quo and getting some sort of secondary/supplemental insurance.. keeping in mind that Tricare ALWAYS pays last.
She is being told that by becoming a dependent of her DIL, she will be eligible for Tricare Prime (?), the same as the DIL - rather than the minimum coverage via her husband at present. My concern is the accuracy of that information, plus the feasability of getting in that position. Thanks...
Tricare Prime yes but it is different Prime than that of AD member's and their spouse & children. She is limited and when seen on base it is after AD, their spouse/children; Reservists & their family; Retirees and their families.
With what she has now it is better because she can go both on and off base.
She should go into the site and find out everything she can about it. Plus talk to Tricare rep and find out from them.
Thanks again folks. My daughter is too disabled to do anything for herself right now. We are trying to get her husband to upgrade to TriCare Prime and we will help pay for the additional premium, but it is being resisted in favor of this other idea that I have been inquiring about here.
go online for the information, print it out and present it to them (your sil and their daughter who is offering) that way they can see that going the way we have suggested.
Navywifeinparadise - The family relationship is the active duty person is the DIL of my disabled daughter. An effort has been made to verbalize the information that I raised questions about here, and it was effectively met with "what do you know about this (or anything)". Chipsmom - My disabled daughter is not old enough for regular Medicare and has not applied for Social Security disabled status (early Medicare - a whole lot of complications on this...). It's probably too late for that now, because she doesn't have any recent SSA work history. I wished they would go ahead and let me finance her upgrade to TriCare prime and get that coverage started, and then they could go ahead with the changed dependent application to sew how it eventually turned out. It's a difficult internal family situation and my daughter may not be able to get the medical service (including prescriptions) that she needs, because of lack of money. That's partly why she's in the present grave disabled status. Thanks to all who tried to help me receive information I was looking for!
something does need to happen because it will EASILY be at least two years before they get an answer back as to whether or not she can be added as a secondary dependnet.. and I am pretty confident it WILL be denied anyway as she already HAS dependency status. and BETTER status as a the spouse of a Retiree than she would as a secondary dependent.
I have afriend here at Ft Meade who added her Mother.. it took 3 applications and 26 months before it was approved. and Mom is senile/alzheimers and cannot take care of her self( she deep fries hot dogs...)
I have to tell you that you aren't alone when it comes to arguing with your sil about this. My parents went through the same thing with my sister and her dh. My sister has MS and went from doing anything and everything to being in a wheelchair and the only being able to move her left hand partially. My parents had so much information on things they could get for free, low cost, etc... through the society. Even friends in their town where telling them things as well. But my sister and bil fought them tooth and nail about it until finally a doctor gave them the same information and glory be they listened. Of course this was like 4 years later.
So have them talk to a Tricare Rep about it. Or is the Tricare Rep the one that is giving them this information? The Rep is the best one to talk to about this. Or even the doctor that she is seeing.
Trying not to bore you or overdo the details. Navywifeinparadise refers to "sil"; there is no sister in law involved. Only an active duty (E5???) daughter-in-law of my disabled daughter. My daughter is unconscious and very gravely ill in military hospital. When (if?) she gets out, she will need lots of medical care, prescriptions, etc., for which she has only minimal TriCare on her retired military husband's record, for which there will be only minimal cash available for co-pays. The AD d-i-l says that if she takes on my daughter as her dependent, my daughter will automatically receive the d-i-l's TriCare Prime coverage with no extra premium being paid. That would be nice, but I'm questioning the availability/feasibility of that option, and think that a more reliable plan would be for my daughter's ret. mil. husband to get their own TriCare upgraded to the Prime coverage, and my other chidren and I will provide the necessary extra premium. My daughter's husband and family don't want to listen to any question's about their "additional dependent" offer, and/or my offer to pay for my upgrade plan. In the meantime, my disabled daughter will continue to be the victim when no cash is available for her co-pays under her existing minimal TriCare coverage. Tough to sit by and watch something unfold you can't do anything about….
sil is son in law, my sister's husband. It sounds like you are having the same problem with your son in law (Sil) that my parent's had with one of their's.
If they believe that then there is nothing that you can do about it, meaning that if they are the ones that feel your daughter can be on the other Tricare then let them deal with it. Unless you get custody of your daughter there is nothing you can legally do.
So she is currently being taken care of in a military facility? The only thing Prime would do is possibly get her into a civilian facility that you would have co-pays to cover.
Being a retiree spouse and in a military facility there will be no fees or co-pays for her meds. Once she is out of the hospital, if they are close enough she may continue to get her refills at the military facility and there would be no charges.
I agree that you may want to look into gaining custodial care of your daughter to straighten out everything there. If you feel she is being abused in that respect you may contact Social services to see what the options are for you.
Thanks for the correction on meaning of sil! Yes, sil is the fly in the ointment. No possibility of me gaining guardianship - too far away geographically to start with. Today, I learned the offer to upgrade to TriCare Prime from me has been rejected, and even from daughter-in-law - but he is supposed to be considering doing it himself - that will be the day…..I'm just going to have to sit tight, pray and wait for the next chapter in the sage. Again, I really appreciate all of the supportive information that I've received here.
I posted a complicated TriCare eligibility question here a couple of months ago concerning my disabled daughter, particularly if she became the dependent of her active military duty daughter in law - which would allegedly bring her under the AD's more beneficial TriCare coverage. I have a follow-up hypothetical question. Assuming the dependency/coverage situation went through, would it bring any life insurance coverage for my disabled daughter in the event of her death?
