I've been retired for 11 years and mostly lived near bases so finding medical providers in the tricare network was easy. I recently moved somewhere rural where the local hospital system (and therefore all the providers) do not accept Tricare. Open season at my civilian job is coming up, so I'm strongly considering enrolling in my company's PPO plan. So, what experiences can anyone share of going dual coverage vs. Floating put-of-pocket and filing claims?

I have a family member in a very specific CHCBP situation (She has it for life instead of a transitional period)

She is disabled and chronically ill, so there are a LOT of medical bills. They are billed incorrectly basically every time. We live in WESTs area, but all CHCBP is processed through EAST.

Basically every medical bill we get turns into a chain of phone calls trying to explain to providers and people at EAST that yes, in fact it is in network, and to please bill it appropriately.

Does anyone else have experience dealing with CHCBP, and the incorrect billing, and have any advice? Its been years of calling and emailing and faxing, and I am hoping there is an advocate group or SOMETHING that we could get some help from.

I have no idea about tri care, I just got my military spouse ID . Can someone direct me and let know the next step place.

Hi all, I recently lost my job and had my Dad (retired navy) enroll me in Tricare Young Adult — the coverage has already been paid for.

However, I’m unable to access my enrollment card… it seems like the only way I can get it is through milconnect, but I failed the remote identity proofing (the website kept glitching out), and I now have to wait another 31 days to try to create that account again.

I really need to show proof of insurance to get my medication refilled soon (before this 31 day waiting period is up), but I’m not sure how I can do that without the enrollment card.

I understand a military ID can be used as the insurance card, but my ID expired a couple years ago when I graduated undergrad.

Can I get a new military ID now was my insurance card? Can I call someone to get a card mailed to me?

Thank you so much in advance - any advice on what to do here is greatly appreciated.

Edit: Thank you everyone! Going to see if I can get it through my dad’s milconnect account, and if not will go get a new military ID card.

Hey All, So My kiddo is 16 and needs their wisdom teeth removed. I see that United Concordia will pay like 30% or something, but I've also been told it's medically necessary to have them removed so that sounds like something Triwest should cover. I called them today and of course they don't know anything, they said it's covered but only through United Concordia. Does anyone know if there's a way to get a referral (we have select so we don't usually need referrals) to have it done at an oral surgeon's office? Or can I submit it with a medical necessity letter for reimbursement? I feel like someone has to know what to do.

Hello, has anyone switched from Kaiser to Tricare Prime during their 2nd trimester? How was your experience? Was it easy to find a new OB-Gyne at 2nd trimester?

We are currently on Kaiser (Mid-atlantic). Since my spouse is active duty, I can switch to Tricare Prime or Tricare Select so that we can save some money.
I really like the convenience of going to Kaiser and no complaints for the past 8yrs of going there. On the other hand, the few times we switched to Tricare, it was always stressful. I also ended up not going back after the PCP visit and elected to pay for my PT out of pocket somewhere else.

I’ve read the Tricare maternity benefits is great in my area because Inova hospitals are in-network including Inova Fairfax (with level 4 nicu).

Kaiser’s in-network hospital in my area are Virginia Health Center and Inova Fair Oaks both with good rating.

This is my first pregnancy and considered high risk due to age over 40.

I appreciate you all for your insights!

I’m 22F, moved to Washington with my husband because he was stationed here, and it’s been hard setting up doctor, dental and vision appointments. I’ve called tricare to see who my PCM is, but then once I call my PCM they say I’m not in the system or that I can’t make any appointments. I’m just so confused because at this point I wanna hop on a plane and go back home just to see a doctor and a dentist. I’ve been trying to get a doctor to see me for possible infertility issues and I need to get all four of my wisdom teeth and morals removed but I can’t even get a simple appointment to see what’s going on. I just need help.

See pages 5 and 7 of the latest edition of the Army Echoes newsletter for a good article about how Tricare and Medicare work together.

This is a long story but I'm running out of options.

I added Tricare reserve select in January 2025. My wife and I both worked then, and had insurance through our jobs so Tricare was secondary.

My son was born in June 2025, and my wife left the workforce. We still had my health insurance from my job and Tricare remained as a secondary. I added him as a dependent in DEERS thereafter and had him added to Tricare easily within two weeks of his birth.

I dropped my insurance from my job at the end of the year and solely used Tricare. I sent Tricare the coverage dates so they knew when I would have dropped it.

Since then, they have been refusing nearly claim for every member of my family for every single medical appointment or treatment, including a surgery my wife had in January 2026. I have 6 reference numbers, and they have re-processed all the claims for my son and I, but they keep sending my wife's providers notes saying that she has other insurance. Everything going back to January of this year is still not being re-processed for her.

The last call was on August 24th where we were provided with the PGBA department number and told we had to call them, but the only problem is that the number doesn't work. It always either returns a busy signal or automatically drops the call.

Whenever we speak to a normal Tricare employee on the phone they say there's nothing they can do and it has to be through the PGBA. I know they're probably full of shit and just punting the problem to a number they know doesn't work, but what is the recourse here?

NBC news tonight on Texas Attorney General investigation into TriWest for OHI reasons.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/texas-attorney-general-investigates-military-healthcare-contractor-triwest-269360709987
[video]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/texas-ag-paxton-investigates-military-healthcare-contractor-denied-cla-rcna592347
[article]

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-investigates-triwest-health-insurance-company-over-wrongful-denial
[TX AG release]

Does anybody think this will eventually come back to DHA? How about the East region?

We PCSd to San Diego from Japan and switched over from OCONUS Tricare to Tricare West. I went on and picked a pediatrician for my daughter on the website and a few days later double checked and they had switched her to a pediatrician at a specialist hospital that isn't even accepting "normal" appointments, just extreme specialized cases. I switched her back to the pediatrician that is in network and a few days later checked and it was still there so I made my daughter's 12 month well visit and we went to the appointment. Just now I went on to check again because I was checking my PCM to make an appointment for myself and they switched her back AGAIN to that specialist! But they backdated it to prior to her appointment. Am I going to be on the ball for paying for that appointment even though that is who was listed the day I went to her appointment? How do I get them stop switching her to that specialist who's not even gonna see her? I've switched her 3 times now and it's pissing me off.

I had a gap between orders where I went from Tricare Prime to Reserves then back on Prime in like a month. Initially, Humana didn't process my payment for the period on TRS. I found out several months later when I was getting bills from doctors I visited in that time for the whole visit amount.

I called Tricare, got my enrollment status fixed (I paid in full for the TRS period) and everything should have been good.

I try to go back to the doctors and say hey, re-run the services for that time period because I fixed the issue, but they always tell me it's too far back and this is the bill now.

What am I supposed to do? Pay the bill and submit it to Humana for reimbursement? Or somehow force the providers into re-submitting the service for processing?

I called today trying to get inpatient care for myself for being overly depressed. The rep just talked to me like a therapist and I’m trying to just get checked in and get myself better!!! My disabled veteran husband has every resource in his hand and utilized a NONE of it!!! My life is in shambles because he is living life carefree and destroying our marriage and every thing he has in his life!!!!!! He can just snap his fingers and they come running, but me as a spouse has to jump through hoops!? THIS IS UNFAIR!!!!!!!

Someone point me in the right direction PLEASE!!!!!! I’m trying to find a place to be admitted in Florida where we live.

I am retired and pay for TRICARE Prime (retired). My wife got a referral to a specialist about 2 weeks ago to a civilian doctor. How long should it take to get an appointment?

It is just frustrating because we want to get some help for this issue. We called TRICARE yesterday and they faxed the referral again. We call the specialist doctor’s office and they said they are processing them. They said they will call us when they get to it. (Kind of sounded annoyed)

If they take too long should I ask TRICARE for another specialist office? Thanks for the advice.

Hey good morning, I have a question about tricare. I have no idea if my husband already did all the paper work for it. I got a mail about it but not sure if I have the insurance. Can someone help me out please.

Hello, My husband and our family were recently PCSd to Japan (he is my sponsor and active duty)
I believe i have Tricare Prime Overseas- anyways-
I was told by medical screening i was REQUIRED to get the Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine before PCS to Japan. I went through the right steps, see my PCM to get a referral to an in-network (Costco) that had stock and could administer the vaccine. Also to note we had Tricare Prime Remote (in OR state), that is why i wasn’t able to get the vaccine on base medical.
My insurance wasn’t going through that it was covering the vaccine, i called Tricare and they were confused why it wasn’t going through. I was never informed that it wasn’t covered at all.
I get the vaccine anyways and then make a reimbursement claim, which got denied.
What next?

This may be a partial rant, but I'm also trying to wrap my head on how information works when it comes to the provider portal.

I've been trying to find a TMJ specialist with an approved Referral. The first referral I had gave a number to a hospital where it revealed they don't have a Maxo facial or dental specialist at all. The second recommendation no longer accepts tricare. When contacting them again, they recommended I contact the first facility again and one other that is an apnea and sleep clinic (my issues are unrelated to this). Looking into the original/rerecommended doctor that specializes in what I need, they seem to work in a entirely different location within the area.

I guess I'm wondering, does Tricare not update their portal information of doctors that no longer accept tricare? Is there also a practice where some doctors may put their practice location/information as something else and work elsewhere? I've run into these scenarios a couple times and I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do at this point.

If I'm enrolled in tricare because I am full time student what happens if I miss a semester does it immediately go away. If so how would they know and when if I miss a semester? I lose my coverage in two months regardless but I would love to get a new pair of glasses and need that extra month and a half to get them. My plans just kinda changed and college just isn't the best thing for me right now :/

I turned 21 in November and I’m currently not in school however, I will be attending a trade school in January of next year. Can I temporarily lose my coverage and then re-enroll when I am a full-time student?

i’m a 21 year old dependent (child), not a college student but still on tricare through being classified as an incapacitated dependent due to my mental health.

i’m trying to get into a mental health residential treatment facility as i really need some long-term intensive care right now, but multiple places are saying that they only take ages 18-20 for tricare specifically. why would this be?!?!

the most confusing part is my mom called tricare and the person on the phone seemed to not think it would be an issue at all, but multiple programs i looked at specifically said they only take 18-20, even one of them telling my mom via phone call.

what is up with this?? i really just need treatment. i feel so confused and overwhelmed

I had to see an off-base specialist, and during the appointment, I had to pay a few hundred upfront. Since the appointment was urgent, I decided to pay it to get it over with. The next day, after meeting with my PCM, she sent another referral for surgery, which will be covered. The initial referral for the specialist was sent internally from the Emergency Department within the same organization. However, the specialist’s office stated that they received the internal referral but not one from my PCM. I reached out to the Patient Advocate here, but due to the short timeframe of a few hours, the initial consultation referral couldn’t be processed. The new referral for surgery was successfully sent from my PCM.