Military Benefits

Explore the details of the NDAA 2027 draft, proposing over $1 trillion in defense funding and significant pay raises.

On January 1, 2025, TriWest Healthcare Alliance replaced Health Net Federal Services as the TRICARE contractor for the region under the Department of Defense’s next-generation T-5 contract. This affected TRICARE enrollees in 26 states and required moving historical enrollment data, billing logs, and medical files for millions of military personnel, retirees, and families into a… Read more »

Update: The Veterans Benefits Expansion Act has stalled in the Senate. It’s unclear at press time when it will be taken up again, but the Senate is (at press time) on recess and will not return until September 14, 2026. The Senate went on vacation without addressing the Veterans Benefits Expansion Act. If you are… Read more »

The House Appropriations Committee has approved an approximately $480 billion Defense Department/Department of Veterans Affairs spending package for fiscal year 2027. The bill includes what some sources call “record spending” to tackle multiple concerns, including keeping military pay commensurate with inflation. House Approves $480 Billion Spending Package for VA, Department of Defense The legislation includes… Read more »

According to TRICARE, if you were recently displaced from an overseas duty station or your home overseas, “you’re still covered by TRICARE.” Displacement counts as a qualifying life event, “which opens a 90-day window for you to update your TRICARE region or make enrollment changes,” according to TRICARE.mil.

The Department of Defense fails to provide accurate cost-of-living allowances or COLA for over a quarter million service members due to flawed data collection practices and inconsistent policies from base to base, according to a Government Accountability Office report released in April 2026. That report says DoD methods for calculating these payments rely on unreliable sampling and poor communication.

The Pentagon proposes increases to combat-related special pay for U.S. troops serving in qualifying areas. The proposal is included in the fiscal year 2027 budget and focuses on two types of special compensation: hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay.

Understand TRICARE coverage for durable medical equipment and find out what qualifies as medically necessary DME.

The White House has released its Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal. It contains a plan to increase national defense spending to $1.5 trillion, a 44% surge that stands in contrast to a proposed $73 billion reduction in non-defense discretionary spending. Learn more.

Find out how the Pentagon updates Hazard and Hostile Fire Pay for troops affected by the Iran conflict and missile attacks.