Editor’s Note: This article by Kimberly Lankford is part of MOAA’s 2025-26 TRICARE Guide, brought to you by MOAA Insurance Plans, administered by Association Member Benefits Advisors (AMBA). A version of the guide appeared in the November 2025 issue of Military Officer magazine. 

After you retire from the military and start your next phase of life — whether it’s a civilian job, starting a business, or full-fledged retirement — you’ll have TRICARE to go with you. Having the military’s health coverage no matter what you do next can give you the freedom to make decisions without worrying about health insurance. You might also be able to save money by keeping TRICARE rather than some other types of coverage.

But the rules for coordinating TRICARE with other insurance can be tricky, and the requirements and your options vary depending on the type of insurance you have. Here’s what you need to know if you have TRICARE and another type of coverage.

[RELATED: Learn More About TRICARE and Medicare Advantage Plans With MOAA Partner Veterans Healthcare]

Civilian Employer Health Insurance

If you take a job with health insurance after leaving the military, you can decide whether or not to sign up for the employer’s coverage in addition to TRICARE based on the coverage and costs.

“I often see people elect to take employer-provided health care for the services and doctors that are covered,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Beagle, USMC (Ret), a certified financial planner who owns WealthCrest Financial Services in Springfield, Va. “Then TRICARE becomes secondary — it doesn’t go away — and it closes almost all the gaps in coverage.”

Indeed, employer coverage will pay the claim, and TRICARE can fill in gaps, often covering the deductible, copayments, and other out-of-pocket costs. It might make you feel comfortable choosing a high-deductible plan from your employer.

Shay Cook, CEO and founder of Crusaders for Change, a financial-coaching firm in Glen Burnie, Md., has had TRICARE for her entire life, first as the child of a servicemember and now as the spouse of a military retiree. Her husband has TRICARE and also employer coverage through his civilian job. He chose to sign up for his employer’s coverage in addition to TRICARE because it provided extra coverage for some services.

“When he goes to the doctor, he puts down both,” said Cook, an accredited financial counselor. “His employer’s plan covers everything first, and TRICARE covers the remaining costs.”

[RELATED: TRICARE to Increase Pharmacy Copayments, Add New Benefits in 2026]

Occasionally they’ll get a bill for copayments from the civilian insurance and then contact the doctor’s office to find out why. Usually it was a mistake because the doctor’s office forgot to run the bill through TRICARE after the employer coverage.

When they do, there are usually no copayments.

“Be an advocate for yourself,” Cook said. “Don’t pay them until you contact them.”

[RELATED: MOAA-Backed Bill Offers More Options for Moms-to-Be Under TRICARE]

You may also want to sign up for employer coverage to supplement TRICARE if you have kids who have aged out of TRICARE but are under 26. They can generally keep TRICARE coverage as a dependent until they turn 21 (or 23 if they’re in college).

At that point, they become eligible for TRICARE Young Adult (if they are not eligible for their own employer-sponsored health coverage). However, TRICARE Young Adult might cost more than keeping them covered as a dependent under an employer plan until age 26 (more on that later). You might have copayments depending on what your employer plan covers.

If you use TRICARE for prescription drug coverage, for example, you may need to pay copayments if you get your medication at a pharmacy other than one at a military treatment facility (MTF).

“I use Express Scripts through TRICARE, and I have copays. The MTF is the only way to get them free,” Beagle said. Notably, wait times at pharmacies can be long, and not everyone has a nearby MTF.

[RELATED: TRICARE Might Be Vastly Overpaying for Some Medical Procedures, IG Probe Concludes]

If You Lose Your Civilian Job

If you had health insurance from a civilian employer and then you lose your job, you usually have the option to keep your employer’s coverage through COBRA, a federal law that requires employers with 20 or more employees to let former employees remain on their health plan for up to 18 months after they leave their jobs.

But the premiums jump significantly when you’re on COBRA because you need to pay both the employer’s and the employee’s
share of the cost. In 2024, the average employee paid $1,368 for their share of coverage, but the full cost averaged $8,951, according to KFF, a health care policy and research organization previously known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

If you have TRICARE, you might not need to sign up for COBRA, which is short for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. You can use that coverage instead after you lose your job.

“If I had lost a job and I had TRICARE Prime or TRICARE for Life as my backstop, I wouldn’t do COBRA. I’d just use the TRICARE,” said Lt. Col. Kathryn “Kitty” Meyers, USAF (Ret), a MOAA Life member, president of the Alamo (Texas) Chapter of MOAA, and a MOAA transition liaison.

Before bypassing COBRA, however, Meyers first recommends making sure your doctors take TRICARE and finding out what will happen to any family members who were on your employer’s coverage.

There are some situations where you might want to stay on COBRA — for example, if you’re going through medical treatments and want to keep the employer’s coverage until that is finished.

[RELATED: Help MOAA Ensure TRICARE Fertility Coverage Keeps Pace With Private-Sector Care]

Having TRICARE after a career in the Air Force helped Meyers’ ability to retire from a civilian career as a human resources executive at age 62 — before she was eligible for Medicare. “It worked out really great,” she said. TRICARE was her primary coverage until she turned 65, and then she signed up for Medicare, with TRICARE For Life becoming her secondary coverage.

If You Are Self-Employed

Having TRICARE can eliminate one of the biggest worries people have before they start their own businesses or become self-employed: how to get health insurance. TRICARE helped Cook, as she was able to start her own business without worrying about health insurance.

“As a small business owner, the cost of insurance is outrageous, and I’ve never had to worry about that,” she said.

[RELATED: Building a Small Business? Follow These 3 Tips for Success]

Since Cook lives near Baltimore, she was able to choose the TRICARE Prime program at Johns Hopkins through the US Family Health Plan.

“The doctors are stellar. I have nothing but good things to say,” she said. Her husband was able to get single coverage from his civilian job, rather than family coverage, because Cook could just use TRICARE. She has to pay copays, but they’re low compared to civilian coverage.

Medicare 

You usually need to sign up for Medicare Part A and Part B at age 65 to keep TRICARE coverage. At that point, your coverage turns into TRICARE For Life, which wraps around your Medicare coverage.

[MOAA PREMIUM/LIFE MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Transitioning Into Medicare and TRICARE For Life]

It covers Medicare’s deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance, and it provides coverage for services that Medicare doesn’t cover, such as foreign travel.

Eligible beneficiaries don’t have to proactively enroll in TRICARE For Life, according to the Defense Health Agency, which provides health services to servicemembers, military retirees, and their family members. Coverage is automatic as long as they’re registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System and have Medicare parts A and B.

Coverage starts the first day Medicare parts A and B are in effect. You must pay Part B premiums, which is $185 per month for most people in 2025 (people with high incomes pay more). Most people don’t have to pay premiums for Part A because they or their spouse paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years.

If your spouse is younger than 65, they pay the usual access fees for TRICARE (at the individual rate unless children are still covered). When they turn 65, they must enroll in Medicare, and their coverage then transitions into TRICARE For Life.

If you or your spouse are still working and you have employer coverage, you can delay enrolling in Medicare past 65, but you won’t have TRICARE at that point. Your TRICARE For Life coverage takes effect when you enroll in Medicare parts A and B.

[RELATED: Medicare Trustees Report Estimates Next 9 Years of Part B Premiums]

You usually have to sign up for Medicare within eight months of leaving that job and losing that coverage, or else you may have a late enrollment penalty for Part B. (TRICARE sign-up rules are different for people who aren’t eligible for premium-free Part A. Visit TRICARE.mil for more information.

When your other health insurance ends, you should inform TRICARE by filling out a form with the regional contractor so TRICARE doesn’t assume the employer insurance still applies.

Medicare pays its portion of the bills first and then sends the claim to the TRICARE For Life claims processor. TRICARE then pays the provider for the TRICARE-covered services. You generally have no out-of-pocket costs for services that both Medicare and TRICARE cover. TRICARE covers Medicare’s coinsurance and deductibles for services covered by Medicare and TRICARE. TRICARE For Life can also act as your pharmacy coverage, so you won’t need to buy a separate Part D prescription drug plan. But you may have pharmacy copays unless you get your medications at a military treatment facility.  

TRICARE and Young Adults

If your children are covered by your TRICARE, the rules for their coverage differ from other insurance.

The Affordable Care Act required other types of health plans offering dependent coverage to let adult children stay on their parents’ policies until age 26 with no different premiums than they had when they were younger. But premiums go up for young adults on TRICARE.

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Fix the TRICARE Young Adult Coverage Gap]

They can generally keep TRICARE coverage as a dependent until they turn 21 (or 23 if they’re in college). At that point, they become eligible for TRICARE Young Adult (if they are not eligible for their own employer-sponsored health coverage).

“That coverage is expensive. I pay $337 a month for my 21-year-old,” Beagle said. “TRICARE Young Adult is one of the few places where the insurer charges an extra fee to insure the adult children to age 26.”

MOAA supports the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act, legislation that would eliminate the extra cost for adult children.  

Kimberly Lankford is a financial expert based in Virginia and the spouse of a retired Army colonel.