Active Duty Family Members

If you’re eligible for Medicare Part A, you aren’t required to have Medicare Part B to keep your TRICARE benefits. However, you must have Part B to keep TRICARE once your sponsor retires.

Special Enrollment Period

A Medicare Special Enrollment Period is available while your sponsor is on active duty and within the first eight months of their retirement.

• If you enroll in Part B after your sponsor retires, you’ll have a break in TRICARE coverage.
• To avoid this break, enroll in Part B before your sponsor retires.

Do you have end-stage renal disease? If you’re eligible for Medicare Part A because you have ESRD, you’re encouraged to keep Part B when you’re first eligible because you won’t be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period.

If you decline or terminate Part B coverage, you may enroll in Medicare Part B during the Medicare General Enrollment Period. The Medicare Part B late-enrollment penalty will apply.

General Enrollment Period

If you don’t enroll in Medicare Part B during the special enrollment period, your next opportunity to enroll in Part B is during the Medicare General Enrollment Period. The General Enrollment Period is Jan. 1–March 31 each year.

Your Part B coverage and TRICARE coverage will start the first day of the month after you sign up. You may also be required to pay the Medicare Part B late-enrollment penalty.