TRICARE For Life (TFL)

At age 65 you must enroll in Medicare Part B to keep TRICARE For Life

  In 2001 Congress rolled out TRICARE For Life (TFL) a Medicare wraparound program designed to ease the financial burden of out-of-pocket costs associated with Medicare (in the US), and to keep TRICARE alive for retirees after 65. Congress initially wanted to stop TRICARE all together once you hit 65, whereas this was the alternative. With that, your TFL depends on your Medicare enrollment, specifically Part B. Part A is also required, but automatically comes with Part B at no cost, so you don't enroll in Part A. Even though Medicare is not available to use overseas, you must still enroll. If you are like most retirees, TRICARE is something you don't want to lose, so Medicare Part A and B enrollment is crucial.

While overseas TFL is the first payer of medical bills at 75% and you pay the remaining 25% out-of-pocket up to the Catastrophic cap. Once that annual Cap is hit, TRICARE pays 100% for the remainder of that calendar year. The rules change however, if you have Other Health Insurance (OHI), so check out our OHI page.

Medicare Advantage vs Medicare Part B: The question comes up often, usually by those trying to get out of paying the Medicare Part B premium, if Medicare Advantage is an option. Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans,” are offered by private companies approved by Medicare, and basically include Medicare Parts A and B together. Read more about Medicare Advantage on the Medicare website. For the purposes of keeping your TRICARE it is important to know that you must still enroll in Part B first. If you are in the U.S. you can then switch to a Medicare Advantage Plan to manage your Medicare, but Medicare Advantage is not a substitute for initial Part B enrollment. When living overseas, Medicare Advantage is not even a viable option, because one of the stipulations of having it is you must live within the region of the plan. No Medicare overseas, so no Advantage. So bottom line is, yes Medicare Advantage could still let you keep your TFL if stateside, but not for us retirees overseas.

TRICARE For Life is Actually Medicare

As mentioned above, in the U.S. Medicare is the first payer and TRICARE the second payer, but while overseas, TRICARE becomes the first payer and you the retiree pickup the remaining balance. However, what many do not realize is TRICARE For Life is actually paid for via Medicare behind the scenes, something none of us see, or really care about, but TFL is in fact a Medicare component. Read more about it's history and connection to Medicare below to understand more about this.

  "How do I get TRICARE For Life?"

A retiree gets Tricare for Life (TFL) either for turning 65 years old or for collecting Social Security Disability (SSDI). Here's more:

  "I Live Overseas, do I need to keep my TRICARE?"

This is a common question by many, because we do not have Medicare coverage overseas.  It is a personal choice each of us must make based on our situation. Some elect NOT to enroll in Medicare, choosing not to pay for something they can't use (although in reality it is indirectly in-use), and instead elect to purchase Korean Health Insurance.  This leads to losing TRICARE completely, which might be fine if you never, ever leave Korea, but as soon as you go to the US or any other country, you are no longer covered for health care.  Here are some things you need to consider if you are contemplating this:

Soooooo, I for one, a retiree living in Korea over the age of 65, am a firm believer in keeping my TRICARE intact and paying for Medicare. But, to each their own.

  "How does a Foreign Spouse, who is not Medicare eligible, has not worked, and is without a Social Security Number, get TFL?"

A foreign spouse of a retiree is eligible for Medicare and TRICARE For Life based on retiree spouse status!

Toss all these facts into a blender and what comes out is, foreign spouses are eligible for TFL by virtue of their retired spouse's eligibility. All military retirees are eligible for Medicare, even if they are not using it yet. They can actually be eligible as young as the age of 38, with benefits not starting until age 65.

What all this means is that foreign spouses at age 65 can usually enroll in and start paying for Medicare based on sponsors eligibility. There are some additional rules if the retiree is younger then the spouse. They do not get Medicare! They have only TFL! But the fact is, based on their military retirees eligibility, foreign spouses are eligible to retain TRICARE and transition to TFL at 65 even if they are foreign citizens, don't have a Social Security Number or never lived in the U.S.

  "My Foreign Born Spouse is Older Than Me the Retiree. How Does Her TFL Work at 65?"

Lets use an example to answer this.  My spouse is only eligible for Medicare based on my retiree eligibility. She just turned 65, but I am only 60 and the minimum age for my eligibility is 62, so my spouse cannot enroll in Medicare Part B for 2 more years. Does she go for 2 years without TRICARE? NO!  The spouse can get a letter from TRICARE to delay Medicare Part B enrollment until I, the retiree, turns 62. This will allow my spouse to remain on TRICARE Select for 2 years, at which time we enroll my spouse into Medicare Part B and gets TFL. 

TRICARE For Life, Medicare Wrap-around coverage, began in 2001

In the restructuring of TRICARE in 2001, several years after CHAMPUS changed to TRICARE, the idea was for TRICARE to end at age 65, and dump everyone into Medicare. There was a great out cry from veterans groups about this, especially since Medicare cannot be used overseas, so TRICARE For Life (TFL) was invented as a Medicare wrap-around. Part of this compromise was that enrollees would have continuing TRICARE coverage, but would have to pay for Medicare Part B.  Read more on our Medicare page.