Not Activated: TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS)

TLDR

• 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.
• The trap: if you're eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) through a civilian federal job, you cannot buy TRS at all — being eligible is enough to disqualify you, enrolling is irrelevant, until that exclusion ends on January 1, 2030.
• When you activate for more than 30 days, TRS ends automatically, and your unused premiums for after the activation date are refunded.

Who can buy it

TRS is a premium-based health plan for qualified Selected Reserve members of the Ready Reserve and their immediate family. It's available worldwide.

If you're Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), you don't qualify for TRS unless some other status gives you eligibility. Selected Reserve is the door.

To purchase TRS, you must not be: on active-duty orders for more than 30 days; covered by the Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP); or eligible for or enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) on your own behalf. That last one is the trap most people miss — the next section explains why.

The federal-job trap

Read this carefully if you hold, or are considering, a civilian federal job — including a dual-status military technician position.

Being merely ELIGIBLE for FEHB disqualifies you from buying TRS. You do not have to enroll in FEHB for this to apply. Eligibility alone is enough to shut the door, even if you never sign up for it.

This exclusion is not permanent. By statute, it applies only during the period before January 1, 2030.

Two things this rule does not touch: a spouse can still be covered through a qualifying Selected Reserve sponsor's TRS enrollment, and survivor TRICARE coverage is not affected by FEHB eligibility at all.

What it costs

CY2026 premiums: $57.88 per month for member-only coverage, $286.66 per month for member-and-family.

TRS follows the TRICARE Select Group B cost structure. CY2026 annual deductibles: pay grades E-1 through E-4, $66 individual / $132 family. Pay grades E-5 and above, $198 individual / $397 family.

A network provider visit is a copayment. A non-network provider is a cost-share after you meet the deductible. The CY2026 family catastrophic cap is $1,324.

Where you actually get care

This is not base clinic coverage. Say that plainly, because assuming otherwise is the most common mistake on this plan.

Your care comes from TRICARE-authorized civilian providers, network or non-network. Care at a Military Treatment Facility (MTF) is space-available only — you cannot be assigned a primary care manager at an MTF on TRS. Plan your care around civilian providers, not the clinic on base.

Enroll your family, or they are not covered

Being listed in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) is not the same as being covered.

Under TRS, family coverage requires active enrollment in the plan. Your children are not covered just because they're registered in DEERS — you have to actually enroll them in TRS for their coverage to exist.

How to buy it

TRS is purchased through milConnect: Benefits → Beneficiary Web Enrollment. There's also a paper route, DD Form 2896-1, if you need it.

What activation does to it

When you're activated for more than 30 days, TRS automatically ends. It does not pause, and it does not convert into something else. Any unused premiums for coverage after your activation date are refunded to you.

Both activation and deactivation count as Qualifying Life Events, each opening a 90-day window to make eligible enrollment changes. Don't let that window close without acting.

The traps

FEHB eligibility disqualifies you from TRS — not FEHB enrollment. Being eligible is enough, even if you've never signed up.

Don't assume the base clinic is your doctor on TRS. It isn't — civilian TRICARE-authorized providers are.

Don't assume DEERS registration covers your kids. It doesn't — active TRS enrollment does.

Don't assume TRS pauses while you're activated. It ends automatically at more than 30 days.

Don't miss the 90-day Qualifying Life Event windows around activation and deactivation.

CY2026 premiums: $57.88/month member-only, $286.66/month family. Deductibles: $66/$132 (E-1–E-4), $198/$397 (E-5+). Family catastrophic cap: $1,324. The FEHB exclusion sunsets January 1, 2030.

Where to go

• milConnect / Beneficiary Web Enrollment — purchase and plan changes.
• The DEERS/identification (ID) card office — eligibility records.
• The TRICARE contractor — plan and billing questions.
• Your unit administrator — status and orders questions.