How soon does dental and health insurance apply in the military?
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at
11:09 am
liquidoxygen18 asked:
does it depend on branch? surely they all have universal health/dental care?
Tagged with: Dental Health • Dental Insurance • Universal Care
Filed under: Military
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You have to live with TriCare… I am sorry for that… I would think that it starts immediatly, especially if you are stationed at a base… My family has been on it forever so I don’t remember for sure…
For soldiers, it’s basically automatic.
For dependents, the soldier has to sign them up for Tricare through DEERS. Dental is different. It’s United Concordia and the soldier has to sign the dependents up separately from Tricare. But you can do it all online.
Your command will walk you through all of this when you join. They gave my hubby time to fill out all of the forms and get me on his health insurance.
The day you get to BMT, but if you have dependents(wife/husband, kids) it might take them a few days to get an ID card.
the day you show up for basic training is when they can fix your teeth. they do it on base. if you have dependants…it normally will take a week or so depending on how fast they are processed. if your family lives off base and are no where near a base…then the process could be longer.
It will depend on what you are, Active Duty, dependent or Reservist/National Guard.
If you are AD then as soon as you leave for Basic/Boot/BCT/Recruit Training and your information is entered into DEERS you are covered medical and dental on base facilities. For AD military there is no charge for medical or dental.
If you are a dependent, then as soon as your information is entered into DEERS by your spouse/parent then you are enrolled into Tricare Standard. With Standard there is a yearly deductible and a co-pay for each visit with the doctor/clinic/hospital that is approved by Tricare. After you get your military ID card then you can enroll into Tricare Prime or Prime Remote. With Prime if you register before the 20th of the month then it starts the next month (ie enroll March 19th, starts April 1st). If you register after the 21st then it doesn’t start until the following month (ie March 24th, doesn’t start until May 1st). With Prime you are assigned a PCM (primary care manager) at the military clinic or hospital closest to you. Now with Dental that is separate, the company you go through is United Concordia and it is $13 a month for single or $23 a month for a family. You are covered for 2 cleanings & 1 xray per year. Then all other work is co-pay up to $1200 for each person per year. You have to pay the first month out of your account and then after that it is deducted from your pay.
With National Guard and Reservists along with their family members it is totally separate unless you are Full time then you are covered under the regular Tricare and United Concordia.
Active duty members are provided care through the military healthcare system. Dependents and retirees rely mainly on TRICARE – an insurance program.