TRICARE After Separation

TRICARE After Separation Explained

Active-duty TRICARE ends when you separate. What you can move to depends on your status, and the options are genuinely different rather than variations of one plan.

The routes, roughly:

• Retiring — TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select as a retiree, with retiree cost shares. At 65 you move to TRICARE For Life alongside Medicare.
• Leaving before retirement — you are not eligible for the retiree plans. CHCBP is the bridge, and there is a hard deadline on it.
• Guard and Reserve — TRICARE Reserve Select while drilling, or TRICARE Retired Reserve if retired but not yet 60.
• Any status — VA health care, which is separate from TRICARE entirely and worth enrolling in regardless.

The one with a deadline is CHCBP, the Continued Health Care Benefit Program. You must apply within 60 days of losing TRICARE eligibility, on DD Form 2837, with a 90-day premium payment up front. It runs up to 18 months for a former member, and up to 36 months for a spouse or children.

Miss the 60 days and CHCBP is gone. It is not reopenable, and losing coverage through non-payment of premiums disqualifies you from buying it at all.

Who is eligible?

The retiree plans need retired status. Separating short of retirement puts you outside them, which is the gap CHCBP fills.

CHCBP is open to former service members losing TRICARE eligibility, including former Guard and Reserve members losing TRICARE Reserve Select or TRICARE Retired Reserve. Spouses and children can be covered for longer than the member.

VA health care runs on its own eligibility — active service without a dishonorable discharge — and is not affected by any of the above. Holding both is common and sensible: VA care for service-connected conditions, TRICARE or civilian insurance for everything else.

How do I apply?

• Diarise 60 days from your coverage end date: This is the CHCBP deadline and it is unforgiving.
• Budget for the 90-day premium up front: CHCBP asks for a quarter's premium with the application, which catches people mid-transition.
• Apply on DD Form 2837: To Humana Military. Download the current form rather than reusing an old copy.
• Enroll in VA health care in parallel: It is a separate system with separate eligibility, and there is no reason to choose between them.
• Compare against employer coverage before committing: If you have a job lined up, its plan may start before CHCBP would — but do that comparison inside the 60 days.
• Reserve and Guard: check TRS or TRR first: They are usually cheaper than CHCBP if you qualify.

Common questions

Learn More

• TRICARE separating from active duty: the options by status. tricare.mil/LifeEvents/Separating
• TRICARE CHCBP: the 60-day deadline, premiums and coverage length. tricare.mil/chcbp
• VA health care eligibility: the parallel system worth enrolling in. va.gov/health-care/eligibility