Government Medicare forces increase in military benefits – TRICARE for Life proves
Tanielian, senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, and Farmer, senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, 2019
[Terri, Carrie, “The US Military Health System: Promoting Readiness And Providing Health Care,” Health Affairs vol 38, no. 8: Military Health Systems, August 2019, https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00239, accessed June 19, 2023, GDS-LL]
TRICARE
TRICARE got its name because it had three different types of medical benefit packages at its inception: Prime, Standard, and Extra. Beginning in 2018 the DoD consolidated TRICARE into two basic options: TRICARE Prime, which continues to operate like a staff-model HMO that relies upon military treatment facilities and the role of a primary care manager, and TRICARE Select, which combined TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra to form a preferred provider organization (PPO).14 In the early 2000s other TRICARE offerings were added to cover additional groups of beneficiaries, including those living abroad, reserve component members and their families, and retirees ages sixty-five and older. TRICARE for Life, for example, was introduced in 2001 to provide Medicare wraparound coverage for beneficiaries who are entitled to Medicare. TRICARE also offers a pharmacy benefit and optional dental care programs for family members of active duty beneficiaries and members of the National Guard or reserve and their families.7,18