Medical Separation (Under 30%): Severance, Coverage Bridges, and the VA

TLDR

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.
Severance is real money with a hook in it: the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recoups it from compensation for the same disability, unless the combat-zone exception covers you.
VA still treats your service-connected condition. Life insurance has hard clocks — Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) ends at 120 days, Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI)'s no-questions window closes at 240 days.

Separated, not retired

Say it plainly: under 20 years of service, a qualifying disability rated under 30% means separation, not retirement. That is the rule, not a judgment on you. The rest of this page is what's actually available to you from here.

Your severance pay

Severance pay is calculated as your years of service, computed under the statutory formula, multiplied by TWICE your applicable monthly basic pay. The pay base used is the highest of the statutory alternatives — it is not simply two months of your current paycheck. Ask your finance office or Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO) for your actual calculated figure.

Your years-of-service credit has floors and a ceiling: a minimum of 6 years if your disability was incurred in a combat zone or during combat-related operations, a minimum of 3 years otherwise, and a maximum of 19 years credited regardless of actual time served.

The hook

Severance is not a bonus on top of VA compensation. Treat it as an advance against it.

VA recoups severance pay from VA compensation for the same disability. For severance paid after September 30, 1996, the amount recouped is the gross severance minus federal income tax withheld. There is no universal monthly schedule for this — your actual recoupment figures are in your VA award letter. Read that letter. Don't estimate from anything printed here.

Exception: if you separated on or after January 28, 2008, and the disability was incurred in the line of duty in a combat zone or during a Department of Defense (DoD)-designated combat-related operation, VA does not recoup the severance. Find out which situation applies to you before you spend the check.

Your coverage bridge

TAMP first, honestly: TAMP gives 180 days of no-premium transitional TRICARE. A medical separation under Chapter 61 does not automatically qualify you for it. Eligibility depends on specific categories in law, including qualifying involuntary separation under honorable conditions, and your SERVICE determines and records your eligibility in DEERS. Check your DEERS record. Ask your service directly whether TAMP was recorded for you. Do not assume you have it.

If TAMP isn't there, or after it ends, CHCBP is the next bridge. CHCBP is premium-based coverage, available for up to 18 months after your TRICARE eligibility — or TAMP — ends. You must submit the application AND your first premium within 60 days of losing coverage. That window is 60 days. It is not the 90-day window you may hear about elsewhere — that's a different TRICARE rule entirely, for a different situation. Don't confuse them.

calendar year 2026 (CY2026) CHCBP premiums: $2,103 per quarter for individual coverage, $5,339 per quarter for family coverage. Budget for this now, not after coverage lapses.

Family note: your family's TAMP exists only where your service has recorded it in DEERS. Verify DEERS first — their enrollment steps follow from that status.

VA care for your condition

VA provides hospital care and medical services for service-connected disabilities. If you were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable, and a disability was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, VA covers care for that specific disability for 12 months after discharge — even apart from your ordinary VA enrollment status.

Enroll in VA health care anyway. Don't wait on this.

Life insurance — the clocks

SGLI, your Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, continues for 120 days after separation. That clock starts now.

VGLI, Veterans' Group Life Insurance, is what you convert to next. Apply within 1 year plus 120 days after separation. But the window that actually matters is shorter: if you apply within 240 days of separation, no health evidence is required. Apply after that, inside the outer deadline, and you may have to answer health questions. Don't wait to find out which applies to you.

If you are totally disabled at separation, you may qualify for the SGLI Disability Extension — up to 2 years of free continued SGLI coverage. The application is Form SGLV 8715, and it can technically be filed within 2 years after separation. Do not treat that 2-year window as a reason to wait. Apply before your normal 120-day SGLI coverage expires. At the end of an approved extension, you can convert to VGLI without health questions by paying the first premium.

The traps

"Medical separation automatically gets you TAMP" is false. Check DEERS. Ask your service.

Severance is not free money sitting on top of VA compensation. VA recoups it for the same disability, unless the combat-zone exception is yours.

CHCBP's window is 60 days, not 90. Those are two different TRICARE rules — don't merge them.

If anything you read quotes a 330-day VGLI window, it's quoting a dead COVID-era policy. That extension ended in December 2021. It does not apply to you.

The Disability Extension's 2-year filing window is not a reason to wait past day 120. Apply early.

Where to go

Your service / DEERS office — for your TAMP determination.
TRICARE's CHCBP, through the TRICARE contractor — for enrollment.
VA enrollment — for your health care, start now.
Office of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (OSGLI) — for VGLI and the SGLV 8715 Disability Extension.
Your PEBLO — while any board paperwork is still open.