Thanks to a poster's PM, I've learned quite a bit more about Tricare eligibility.
The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act added an early-retirement provision for the Reserves. The legislation is a hairball but it essentially says "If you complete 90 days of qualifying active duty in a fiscal year then you can begin to receive your retirement pay three months earlier". If a Reservist completes at least 360 days of mobilization within the same FY (or at least 90 days in each of four separate FYs) then they could start receiving retired pay at age 59. In one USMC Reservist's letter (Notice of Eligibility AKA "20-year letter") it ways "Members of the Ready Reserve called to active service after 28 January 2008 may have their entitlement to retired pay eligibility age reduced from age 60 by three months for each aggregate of 90 days served on active duty."
There are two perennial complaints with this legislation:
(1) For some reason it specifies "within the FY". Not sure why, but the wording means that 30 days in one FY and 60 days in the next does not count. It has to be all within the same FY. This wreaks havoc with Reserve accounting, some of which is already tied to the calendar year and other parts which are tied to the "anniversary date" when the Reservist started their service.
(2) It's only after 28 Jan 2008 and not retroactive to 9/11. If it was retroactive to one of the biggest Reserve mobilizations since WWII then as many as 500,000 more could start receiving their pensions before age 60.
Many veteran's advocacy groups have focused on these two problems (unsuccessfully, so far) but there's a third problem: the Tricare eligibility date doesn't change. No matter how much sooner than age 60 you could start receiving your pension, your retiree Tricare coverage does not start until age 60. The legislation only covered Reserve retirement, not Tricare.
This means a Reservist who might receive retired pay earlier than age 60 would still have to sign up for other health insurance (perhaps Tricare Retired Reserve) until they reached age 60 and then could go on to regular Tricare. And then at age 65 (or whenever Medicare eligible) they'd go on to Tricare For Life.
Clear enough? I'll blog about this in more detail in a couple weeks and include some links, but that's the gist of it. Terry Howell at the Military Advantage blog may also write about that soon.
By the way, the Tricare premiums are going up for many of us next week. Here's a link to the MOAA reminder with the new rates:
Health Care Happenings » Reminder: TRICARE Prime Enrollment Fees Increase on October 1st! For example in my case the monthly family premium rises from $38.34 to $44.88.
This is not a complaint or even a kvetch-- I'm quite happy to pay more for Tricare if it means that more civilian doctors will support it-- but the subject is complicated and the rates are not necessarily going up for everyone.
My Tricare provider, TriWest, assures me that the new amount will be automatically deducted from my checking account with absolutely no action on my part. We'll see how that goes.
Holy crap! After trying to slog through all the web sites where nothing is definitive I'm wondering if anything I've experienced in the military is as complex as this! Are they deliberately trying to make it as hard as can be?
That's a rhetorical question, right?