TRICARE Facts
Enrollment—DEERS
Receiving TRICARE benefits requires that a beneficiary's information be up-to-date and correct in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). DEERS is a computerized database of all servicemembers, retirees, their dependents and others who are eligible for TRICARE.
While servicemembers are automatically enrolled in DEERS, dependents must enroll by contacting a military personnel office or the local TRICARE service center. You can find the nearest military personnel office with the military RAPIDS Site Locator. You can also update your TRICARE information directly on DEERS.
DEERS Facts
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Anyone in DEERS can change contact information, but only the servicemember sponsor can add or delete a beneficiary with the proper documentation.
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The following are changes in status that need to be reported to DEERS. This will help ensure that coverage stops or starts accordingly:
- Retirement
- Student status (if the child of a servicemember is still in school full-time and is over the age of 21, their TRICARE coverage will continue until age 23).
- Enrollment in Medicare Parts A and B.
- Death
- Divorce
- Marriage
- Births
- A PCS move
- Discharge
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Re-enlistment
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Each dependent's information must be updated in DEERS separately.
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Children are automatically covered under TRICARE Prime for 60 days after birth or adoption. If a TRICARE application is not submitted before the first 60 days after birth or adoption, beneficiaries can apply for an extension of the benefits for another 60 days. Extension requests are processed and approved by a TRICARE Regional Office.
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College students must keep their information correct in DEERS to continue receiving TRICARE benefits.
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College students can only be covered under TRICARE until their 23rd birthday or until they graduate college. They must be enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution full-time and rely on their servicemember sponsor for at least half of their income.
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Un-remarried former spouses of servicemembers who are eligible for TRICARE benefits must re-register in DEERS under their own name and social security number and not their former spouse's.
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Dependent parents or parent-in-laws of servicemembers using TRICARE Plus must be registered in DEERS as a dependent and issued a dependent military I.D.
