Benefits
What TRICARE is, the main plans, and who's actually covered, in plain English for new service members and their families.
A Navy registered nurse provides inpatient care at NMRTC Rota, Spain. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Alicia Sacks, DVIDS (public domain).
TRICARE is the military's health care program. If you're active duty, you're signed up for TRICARE Prime automatically and you pay nothing out of pocket for covered care. Your spouse and kids get covered too once they're in DEERS, and they choose between Prime and Select.
Your eligibility runs through DEERS, the eligibility database you must be registered in. No DEERS record, no TRICARE. So the first move for any new service member with a family is making sure everyone's registered.
Here is the whole picture on one page: who is auto-enrolled, who picks a plan, and why nobody is covered until they show up in DEERS.
Who is covered
Getting married or having a baby does not add your family by itself. Add them in DEERS first.
Source: TRICARE.mil
TRICARE is the health plan for the uniformed services. It covers active-duty members, their families, retirees, and certain Guard and Reserve members, using a mix of military hospitals and clinics, called MTFs, and civilian network providers.
Think of it less like one plan and more like a family of plans. You get sorted into one based on who your sponsor is, the service member whose status earns the benefit, and your own status. The plan finder on TRICARE.mil walks you through which ones you can use.
Eligibility comes from your relationship to a sponsor, and it's tracked in DEERS. You have to be registered in DEERS to use TRICARE, period.
Active-duty service members are covered the day they start active duty. Active-duty family members, meaning a spouse and kids, are covered once you enroll them in DEERS and get them an ID card. National Guard and Reserve coverage depends on whether you're activated or drilling, covered in our Guard and Reserve guide. Retirees and their families keep coverage after retiring from service.
Big thing for new service members: getting married or having a baby doesn't put your family on TRICARE by itself. You have to add them in DEERS first. Until that's done, their care isn't covered.
Two plans cover most active-duty families: Prime and Select. A handful of premium-based plans cover people in other statuses. For most readers of this guide, the real decision is Prime versus Select for your family, which we break down in our Prime versus Select guide.
Here is what it costs and when you're allowed to change.
The active-duty member pays nothing for covered care, and both family plans start with no enrollment fee. The catch is timing: you can only switch plans in two windows a year.
$0
What covered care costs the active-duty member. Both Prime and Select have a $0 enrollment fee for active-duty families.
Costs and windows
Lock in DEERS, confirm your family's plan, do not wait for a problem at the clinic.
Source: TRICARE.mil
If you're the active-duty member, your covered care costs you nothing out of pocket. That's the part a lot of civilians don't believe.
For your family members, both Prime and Select carry a $0 annual enrollment fee while you're active duty. The difference shows up when someone gets care. Prime has no deductible and very low copays. Select has an annual deductible plus a copay per visit.
A concrete example: for active-duty families whose sponsor entered service before 2018, known as Group A, the 2026 Select deductible for E-1 to E-4 is $50 for one person or $100 for the family, with network copays around $28 for a primary-care visit and $39 for a specialist. Families whose sponsor entered service in 2018 or later, known as Group B, pay different amounts, listed on the same page.
One safety net applies to both plans: the catastrophic cap, which is the yearly out-of-pocket limit. For active-duty families, the most you pay out of pocket for covered care in 2026 is $1,000 for the whole family. After that, covered care is paid in full for the rest of the year.
Active-duty members are enrolled in Prime without lifting a finger. To enroll a family member, or to move someone between Prime and Select, you update DEERS and submit the enrollment online, by phone, or by mail.
Outside of two windows, you're locked into your plan. The two windows are TRICARE Open Season, which runs each year from November 10 to December 9, and a Qualifying Life Event, or QLE. A QLE is something like a PCS, a marriage, a new baby, or separation, and it opens a 90-day window to change plans.
Bottom line for a new service member: lock in DEERS, confirm your family's plan, and don't wait for a problem at the clinic to find out something's off.
What is TRICARE?
It's the military health care program for service members, families, retirees, and certain Guard and Reserve members. It uses military hospitals and clinics plus a civilian provider network.
Is TRICARE free for active duty?
For the active-duty member, covered care costs $0 out of pocket. For family members, there's no enrollment fee on Prime or Select while you're active duty, though Select has a deductible and copays when they get care.
Do my spouse and kids automatically get TRICARE?
Not automatically. You have to register them in DEERS first. Once they're in DEERS with an ID card, they're covered and can use Prime or Select.
What's the difference between Prime and Select?
Prime is lower cost but you go through a primary care manager, or PCM, and need referrals for specialists. Select lets you see any authorized provider without referrals, but you pay a deductible and copays. Full breakdown in our Prime versus Select guide.
Do I need to do anything to get TRICARE when I enlist?
Not for yourself. As the member, you're auto-enrolled in Prime. The action item is your family: get them into DEERS and pick their plan.
When can I change my TRICARE plan?
During Open Season (Nov 10 to Dec 9) or within 90 days of a Qualifying Life Event like a PCS, marriage, or birth.
Does TRICARE cover dental and vision?
Yes, but separately. Those run on a separate track from your medical plan. See our dental and vision guide.
Your nearest military hospital or clinic, the MTF, can help in person. Walk in to the patient registration or TRICARE Service Center and ask. They handle enrollment problems, referrals, and DEERS questions.
Your regional contractor runs the network. TRICARE East is run by Humana Military at 800-444-5445. TRICARE West is run by TriWest at 888-874-9378. You can check and fix your eligibility at milConnect, and if DEERS is wrong, your coverage breaks, so keep your spouse and kids current. Your unit S-1 or finance office handles DEERS updates, ID cards, and life-event paperwork. TRICARE.mil has the plan finder, cost comparison, and fact sheets, which are the official word. Rates and rules change every January, so check the current year. All of these are linked in Sources below.
