health.mil

Health.mil

May 02, 2011

The new TRICARE Young Adult plan will allow adult children to purchase health plan coverage through the age of 26 starting May 1.  This is extended from the previous maximum age of 23 and will be available for purchase on a month-to-month basis.

The fiscal 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Barack Obama signed Jan. 7, gave the Defense Department the authority it needed to extend TRICARE coverage to young adults, TRICARE spokesman Austin Camacho said.

This, officials said, will ensure military families aren’t left out as the new national health care reform law extends parents’ health insurance for their children up to age 26.

The new plan ensures benefits extended are in line with those all American families receive under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which took effect in March 2010.

“We've been working hard to make sure we could put TRICARE Young Adult on a fast track,” Navy Rear Adm. (Dr.) Christine S. Hunter, director of the TRICARE Management Activity, said in a recent American Forces Press Service article. “Fortunately for our beneficiaries concerned about health care coverage for their adult children, the law signed by the president includes opportunities for military families to elect this new premium-based plan retroactive to Jan. 1”

For more information about the TRICARE Young Adult plan visit TRICARE. 

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