Veteran Health Solutions
TRICARE For Life and the VA
This is the first thing every veteran asks us, and it should be. Here is how a veteran plan sits with the coverage you already have.
Start here
The answer changes what we recommend, so we ask it on every call.
This is who the veteran plans were designed for.
A plan can still help, but the trade-offs are real and we say them plainly.
TRICARE For Life is for military retirees and their eligible family members. Not sure which lane you are in? Ask. We will work it out with you in a couple of minutes.
Follow one doctor's bill
Pick the coverage you have. Then follow one visit, outside the VA, from the first bill to the last dollar.
With a veteran plan, the plan handles your Medicare benefits. So the bill goes there first.
What is left over is the copay printed on the plan's benefit sheet.
It pays after the plan, the same way it pays after Medicare today, and generally covers the copay for covered care.
Nothing pays after the plan. That is the real trade-off of using a plan outside the VA, and we will say so on the call.
And at the VA? Nothing changes, whichever coverage you have. VA care runs on its own track. It does not bill the plan, and the plan does not affect it.
What you may have heard
"I'll lose my TRICARE For Life."
You keep TRICARE For Life as long as you keep Medicare Part A and Part B. These plans require both, so the two go hand in hand.
"This will affect my VA care or my disability rating."
No. VA health care and VA disability are separate from Medicare. Joining a Medicare plan does not touch either one.
"Medicare Advantage means giving up my doctors."
Most of the bad stories are about HMOs, which can cause problems alongside TRICARE For Life. The veteran plans we work with are PPOs. You can go in or out of network, and we check your doctors by name first.
"There has to be a catch."
You still pay your Part B premium. On plans with a reduction, you pay less of it. The carriers pay us, so there is no bill from us either.
You will see copays listed on every plan's benefit sheet. Carriers have to print them, because not every veteran has TRICARE For Life. If you do, it pays after the plan and generally covers them. If you use the VA only, those copays apply to you. Your advocate walks through which one is true for you before you decide anything.
Two minutes
See which veteran plans are in your county, and whether one could lower your Part B premium. No cost. No obligation.
