All situations

Regular coverage runs to 21, or to 23 for a supported full-time student documented in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) — it ends at graduation or the 23rd birthday, whichever comes first.

Your TRICARE continues — covered as an active-duty family for the first 3 years, then as a survivor. It does not end at the funeral.

20/20/20 met — your coverage continues as your own, under your own record.

Your TRICARE continues as a survivor at retiree-family costs — it ends only if you remarry, at any age. There is no age-55 exception in TRICARE.

A medical board documents your condition and decides if you can keep doing your job. It is not a discharge.

If the member RETIRED, your coverage continues as a retiree family. The work on your end is the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), a 90-day enrollment window, and new identification (ID) cards once the paperwork lands.

You are a retiree. TRICARE continues as retiree coverage — enroll within 90 days of your retirement date.

You are separated, not retired. TRICARE ends. The bridges are the Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP) — only if your service recorded you eligible, check the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) — and the Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP), which is expensive and has a 60-day window to buy.

Two different doors, two different rules. Mix them up and you can end up paying the bill yourself.

Went to a civilian emergency room (ER)? Call 844-724-7842 (the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Centralized Notification Center) within 72 hours. This matters.

Your TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) ends at 11:59 p.m. on your date of separation or retirement — for you AND your family, at the same moment. No tail, no grace period.

TRICARE does not pay for custodial long-term care. That door is closed — start there, so nothing below gets mistaken for it.

US Family Health Plan (USFHP) members do NOT get to stay in USFHP past 65 as the general rule. With Medicare Parts A and B, you move to TRICARE For Life (TFL) — USFHP doesn't run alongside it.

There is no single universal rule for a former spouse's immigration status after an overseas divorce, nor is there a universal right to remain for a surviving spouse — host-country law and the applicable Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) control.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare does not automatically follow you around the world. The Foreign Medical Program (FMP) covers care outside the U.S. strictly for VA-rated service-connected disabilities and conditions that aggravate them.

A retiree living overseas is NOT eligible for TRICARE Prime; your plan is TRICARE Select Overseas.

Command sponsorship is the command's approval for your family to accompany you overseas; it directly controls accompanying-dependent authorization, government-funded travel, and eligibility for TRICARE Prime Overseas or Prime Remote.

When the sponsor activates, the family's TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) ends and the family becomes active-duty family — the flip is automatic in the system, but only if the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) is right.

Finish 20 qualifying years and you're a gray-area retiree: retired pay normally starts at 60 — but qualifying active service can pull that age DOWN, three months for every 90 days.

Orders over 30 days flip you and your family to active-duty TRICARE — and with delayed-effective-date contingency orders, that coverage can start up to 180 days BEFORE you report.

TRS is the coverage drilling Guard/Reserve members buy when they are not activated — calendar year 2026 (CY2026) it costs $57.88 a month member-only or $286.66 with family, and care comes from civilian TRICARE providers with deductibles and cost-shares, not from the base clinic.

With a civilian employer's plan, the job's insurance pays FIRST and TRICARE pays second — by law — with four named exceptions where TRICARE pays first.

Honorable and General Under Honorable Conditions walk through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) door — VA treats both as under honorable conditions.

The day you separate, regular TRICARE ends for you and your family unless another category catches you — plan as if the cliff is the date on your orders.

The GI Bill pays for school — it is not health insurance and it does not pay health-insurance premiums.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare is a separate system from TRICARE with its own door, its own application, and its own rules — your discharge and your service open it, not your old identification (ID) card.

When you separate, your spouse's service keeps a door open: you stop being the sponsor and become a family member on their record, covered by TRICARE as a direct dependent.

If you are Medicare-eligible and your spouse is still on active duty, you may delay Medicare Part B without the late-enrollment penalty. The Special Enrollment Period is keyed to your sponsor's service, not to any job of yours.

A retired spouse's TRICARE can cover you as a family member — a door that exists separately from your own service record and your VA eligibility.

Your parent is covered as the spouse of an active-duty sponsor — a direct dependent with TRICARE Prime or Select in their own right.

A parent, stepparent, or parent-in-law can be approved as a secondary dependent.

With no active-duty spouse and no serving child as sponsor, there is no military dependent door for a parent.