TRICARE and divorce: What military spouses need to know
If you’re married to a servicemember, it’s important to know which military-related benefits can continue once your divorce is final and which will end. This can help you take stock of what you’ll need to be on solid financial ground as you begin life as a single person again.
One of those benefits is health insurance. You’re likely covered under your spouse’s TRICARE plan. If you have children, they probably are as well. While children can continue under their servicemember parent’s plan until they age out, that’s not necessarily the case for former spouses. Continued eligibility depends on three factors: the length of your marriage (up until the divorce decree), the length of their retirement-creditable military service and the overlap between those two periods.
The 20/20/20 and 20/20/15 rules
If those three factors listed above all are at least 20 years, your situation falls under the 20/20/20 rule. That means you can continue to receive health insurance through TRICARE until and unless you remarry. You will need to get your own plan, however.
If those first two factors are at least 20 years, but the overlap between them is under 20 years (and at least 15), you can continue TRICARE coverage under your own plan for one year after the divorce is finalized.
What if neither of those rules applies?
If your marriage and/or your spouse’s service don’t fall under either of those rules, there’s an option for continued insurance coverage called the Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP). The purpose is to give servicemember spouses time to get new coverage whenever their TRICARE coverage ends.
If you’re considering CHCBP because you don’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan, it might be wise to compare the price and coverage with that of plans available at CoveredCA.com.
While health insurance may not be at the top of your list of concerns as you prepare for divorce, you don’t want to end up without coverage. Further, it’s crucial to factor in the cost of your health insurance – wherever you get it – to your overall post-divorce budget. This will help you to make informed decisions when it comes to spousal support, asset division and other negotiations.
