Military Divorce and Healthcare

Military members, and their immediate family, enjoy certain benefits. One major benefit to military families is the medical health insurance extended to military members, as well as their spouses and children.

Of course, this means that non-military spouses who are actively receiving military healthcare benefits due to their spouse’s military standing have some additional things to think about when they contemplate divorce. Active military service often entails frequent moves, which discourages many military spouses from finding long-term, full-time employment. This leads to many non-military spouses becoming reliant on their spouse’s medical benefits. But will those medical benefits continue to be available to them as an ex-military spouse? This article aims to answer some general questions. Contacting an experienced divorce attorney will, of course, be the best way to receive knowledgeable, specific advice that you can count on.

Military Options

You have a couple of options for continuing military healthcare benefits as non-military personnel, even after divorcing your military spouse. TRICARE and the Continued Health Care Benefit Program can offer qualifying individuals pivotal support through the transition to a single life.

TRICARE

TRICARE is a no-cost resource available to active-duty service members, retirees and their family members. When a couple divorces, the non-military spouse may continue receiving their approved TRICARE coverage if certain qualifiers are satisfied:

• The divorcing spouses were married for at least 20 years. During at least 20 of those married years, the military spouse was performing active service in the military.
• The non-military spouse has not remarried.
• The non-military spouse has no other medical benefits. If the non-military spouse does have other medical benefits TRICARE may, then, address a remaining bill amount after the primary insurance has been applied.

TRICARE Limitations

Even if the above criteria are not met and a former spouse cannot keep their TRICARE coverage indefinitely, there are certain circumstances where some TRICARE coverage may be accessible. If, for instance, the marriage lasted at least twenty years, the military spouse has served at least 20 years, and between 15 to 20 years of that military service and the marriage overlap – then TRICARE may be available as secondary insurance to the non-military former spouse for one year from the date of the finalized divorce.

Whether parents are divorced has no bearing on whether children of the military spouse will continue to qualify for TRICARE coverage. A divorce does not diminish the parent-child relationship. But if a divorced, non-military spouse does not qualify for TRICARE coverage post-divorce, the former spouse will be dropped immediately from receiving TRICARE medical benefits.

Continued Health Care Benefit Program

The Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP) can help former military spouses who will lose their TRICARE coverage. This transitional coverage can be purchased to cover 18 to 36 months by qualifying former military spouses.

The criteria to purchase CHCB coverage include:

• enrolled in TRICARE at the time of the divorce
• not covered under any other health insurance
• former spouse not remarried before reaching age 55,

If you do not qualify for continued benefits through either of the options above, you may want to consider working with an experienced divorce attorney. These professionals can help negotiate a divorce settlement that includes consideration for medical care and expenses.

Contact Fort, Holloway Rogers

Contact the dedicated Franklin divorce attorneys at Fort, Holloway & Rogers to discuss your options and strategize best steps moving forward.

Sources:

militaryonesource.mil/relationships/separation-divorce/dealing-with-military-divorce/

forbes.com/advisor/legal/divorce/military-divorce/