TRICARE Young Adult Enrollment

Overview

TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) is available for purchase by eligible beneficiaries. This premium-based health care plan offers medical, mental health and pharmacy benefits upon enrollment. TRICARE currently offers a TYA Prime plan and a TYA Select plan.

• Learn more about TYA on TRICARE's TYA page.
• Learn more about using TYA on our Getting Care – TRICARE Prime and Getting Care – TRICARE Select pages.

Those enrolled in TYA Select may receive covered services from any TRICARE-authorized network or non-network provider, or at a military hospital or clinic on a space-available basis.

Eligibility

Young adults must show eligible in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) to enroll in TYA. Eligibility is established by your uniformed service sponsor. You may purchase TYA coverage if you:

• are a dependent of an eligible uniformed service sponsor (see note below),
• are under age 26,
• have aged out of TRICARE at age 21 or 23 if you were a full-time college student,
• are not married,
• are not a member of the uniformed services,
• do not qualify for an employer-sponsored health plan, and
• you are not eligible for other TRICARE coverage.

Note: TRICARE Young Adult eligibility ends when your sponsor is no longer eligible for TRICARE. For example, if your sponsor is no longer on active duty and not eligible for other TRICARE benefits.
 

Types of Coverage Available

The type of TYA coverage available for you to purchase depends upon the status of your sponsor:

Note: Eligible TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) and TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR) sponsors must be enrolled in TRS or TRR in order for young adults to enroll in TYA.

Enrolling in TYA

You may enroll by:

• Beneficiary Web Enrollment (BWE)
  
• Mailing or faxing a new TYA application
  
• Telephone at 1-844-866-WEST (9378), Monday through Friday, 5:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. (PT). 
  • When requesting enrollment by phone, the TYA beneficiary must be the one making the request.

If you are enrolling in a TRICARE Prime option, you must choose a primary care manager (PCM). Visit our PCM page to learn more.

Note: The TYA-eligible member must be the one to request enrollment.

Effective Dates

New Enrollment: Enrollment is effective the date of the request (up to 90 days in the future).

Continuous Enrollment: In order to maintain continuous enrollment, HNFS must receive your TYA enrollment request within 90 days following the end of previous TRICARE coverage to qualify for enrollment without a break in coverage. 

Premium and Payment Information

All eligible young adults are offered the same level of benefits for one rate (see note below). Each person enrolled in TYA will be billed as an individual. There are no family enrollments in TYA.

Monthly enrollment premiums are:

Rates for TYA are subject to change every calendar year (Jan. 1–Dec. 31). Enrollment premiums are not applied toward the annual catastrophic cap.

A two-month premium payment (check or credit card) must accompany enrollment requests.

Checks are only accepted for the initial enrollment premium payment. Ongoing premiums must be established during enrollment and paid in advance by a monthly automated payment through electronic funds transfer (EFT) or recurring credit card (RCC). Allotment cannot be used for TYA payments. To set up automatic payments, complete the Premium Payment Method section of the TYA application. To change automatic payments, complete the TYA EFT or RCC Request Form. 

Failure to pay the total amount due will result in disenrollment from TYA. Your disenrollment will be effective the day following your paid-through date. Claims for services after your disenrollment date will not be paid under your TYA coverage. 

Qualifying Life Events

Visit our Qualifying Life Events page to learn how a change in your or a family member's life may affect your TRICARE enrollment options.

Disenrolling from TYA

Voluntary disenrollment: You may voluntarily disenroll from TYA by:

• Beneficiary Web Enrollment (BWE)
  
• Mailing or faxing a TYA application.
  
• Telephone at 1-844-866-WEST (9378), Monday through Friday, 5:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. (PT).
  • When requesting disenrollment by phone, the TYA beneficiary must be the one making the request.

You may request a disenrollment date of the last day of the month the form is postmarked or telephone request is received, or you may request a future disenrollment date, effective the last day of a following month.

If you gain employer-sponsored health coverage, you may voluntarily disenroll without being locked out. All other disenrollment requests are subject to a 12-month lockout period.

Nonpayment: Your premium payment is due no later than the last day of the month for the next month’s coverage. You will be disenrolled from TYA effective your policy’s paid-through date should you fail to pay the total premium amounts due. Any claims for services after your disenrollment date will not be paid by your TYA coverage. TRICARE policy requires a 12-month TYA lockout period if you are disenrolled for nonpayment.

Reinstatement

If you have been disenrolled for failure to pay or failure to comply with monthly automatic payment requirements for less than 90 days, you may be reinstated. Full payment is required to bring the policy current and you must establish automatic payments for future withdrawals. If disenrolled greater than 90 days, there is a 12-month lockout period.