TRICARE Open Season 2024
TRICARE has announced open season for 2024. According to the TRICARE official site, open season is your opportunity to make changes to your health plan for the coming year without a qualifying life event or QLE.
In 2025, new TRICARE regional contracts in the U.S. will affect TRICARE beneficiaries there, so participating in this open season is crucial even for those who may not otherwise anticipate needing to modify their policies.
The new TRICARE regional contracts may, depending on circumstances, affect your coverage and ability to find care in the USA, so double-check your plan and coordinate with your care provider.
When is TRICARE Open Season 2024?
TRICARE open season is from November 11 to December 10, 2024.
Related: Ultimate TRICARE Guide
Three Options In TRICARE Open Season 2024
If you are considering changing your TRICARE plan, you have three basic choices during Open Season:
- Stay in your current TRICARE plan. The official site states, “You’ll continue in your current health plan as long as you’re eligible.”
- Those eligible for a TRICARE Prime option or TRICARE Select but have not enrolled can enroll in a plan during TRICARE Open Season.
- Change TRICARE plans. You may switch plans and switch between individual and family enrollment.
Who Can Qualify For TRICARE?
- Military members
- Military spouses
- Dependent children
- Dependent parents or Parent-in-Law
- Qualifying ex-spouses
- Surviving spouse
- Surviving children/dependents
TRICARE Coverage Options
Open Season applies to TRICARE plans, including the ones listed below:
- TRICARE Prime
- US Family Health Plan
- TRICARE Prime Remote
- TRICARE Prime Overseas
- TRICARE Prime Remote Overseas
- TRICARE Select
- TRICARE Select Overseas
Remember, according to TRICARE, open season doesn’t apply to active duty service members. Furthermore, TRICARE For Life beneficiaries “don’t need to take action during open season” because coverage is automatic with Medicare Part A and Part B.
Some coverage is designed as a premium-based plan. These are available for purchase anytime. You don’t need to take action during open season to opt into TRICARE Reserve Select, TRICARE Retired Reserve, or TRICARE Young Adult
Who Can Change Coverage During TRICARE Open Season 2024?
TRICARE Open Season is for family members, not for active duty service members. That’s because the duty location dictates Active Duty coverage for TRICARE: TRICARE Prime, TRICARE Prime Remote, TRICARE Prime Overseas, etc.
Active duty troops must use TRICARE Prime or one of its alternates. Family members have more options, and you can change those options during Open Season to better suit you. You don’t have to change plans, but the opportunity is there once each year.
TRICARE Checklist: Update DEERS With The Most Current Information
If you have dependents or anticipate having dependents who have not been added to the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System or DEERS, those dependents must be added before TRICARE coverage can start on those beneficiaries.
For best results, keep all your information current in DEERS. It is a terrible idea to try to update DEERS and TRICARE at the same time. Update DEERS first.
TRICARE Checklist: Changing Your TRICARE PLAN
What is the first thing to do if you’re considering a new TRICARE plan? Review the details of your current plan and compare it to others you might be considering. A side-by-side comparison is crucial to ensure you get as much out of your health insurance as possible. The basic options include:
- TRICARE Prime: Managed care and offered the most affordable coverage according to the TRICARE official site.
- TRICARE Select: Self-managed care. TRICARE says this option offers “the most freedom,” thanks in part to not having a required primary care manager.
You can compare TRICARE plans to learn more about how these options work. Once you have compared the features and options, it’s time to review the costs, which you can do using a TRICARE cost comparison tool offered on the official site.
It’s crucial to know all your options. Did you know there’s a wide range of TRICARE coverage you can select from once you decide whether you want managed care or self-managed care? Your options may include:
- TRICARE Prime
- TRICARE Prime Remote
- TRICARE Prime Overseas
- TRICARE Prime Remote Overseas
- TRICARE Select
- TRICARE Select Overseas
- TRICARE For Life
- TRICARE Reserve Select
- TRICARE Retired Reserve
- TRICARE Young Adult
- US Family Health Plan
TRICARE Checklist: Planning Future Care and Coverage
If you need to review your Open Season TRICARE coverage options, there are some big questions to ask. They include:
- Is your family size changing this year?
- Are you getting married or divorced this year?
- Are you moving this year?
- Are you PCSing this year?
- Are you turning 60 or 65 this year?
- Are you retiring or separating from military service this year?
If the answer to any of these questions is YES, that may affect your choices and options for coverage.
Remember, active duty troops who leave active duty will have to elect for different TRICARE coverage options depending on whether they are going into the Guard or Reserve, retiring as a military pension-qualified veteran or if you are separating from the service and going into civilian life.
You don’t need to wait for TRICARE Open Season to make coverage changes on some of the life milestones listed above; if you experience any of those circumstances, you may be eligible to make Open Season-type changes within a 90-day window.
These are known as Qualifying Life Events, and you can either make the changes during the open season or wait until these events actually occur to modify your healthcare options.
Related: Ultimate TRICARE Guide
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
