TRICARE Facts

TRICARE provides comprehensive health care services for servicemembers, retirees and their dependents through a network of authorized providers and military facilities. Reservists, National Guard members and their dependents also are eligible under certain conditions. TRICARE members can choose from several plans to meet their needs. However, all plans have common rules about eligibility, providers, enrollment and patient priority placement.

• Eligibility

  See the eligibility requirements for most TRICARE plans and learn about medical procedure eligibility.

• Providers

  Different TRICARE plans give plan members access to certain types of physicians and facilities at differing levels of care. Learn about these differences and read definitions for the different groups of physicians in TRICARE.

• Enrollment—DEERS

  TRICARE requires that information about beneficiaries be up-to-date in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). DEERS is a computerized database of all servicemembers, retirees, their dependents and others who are TRICARE eligible. Learn more about DEERS.

• Patient Priority List

  TRICARE places beneficiaries in groups that determine which beneficiaries receive care first if there is a wait for care. See the groups and the criteria for placement in each.

• Other Resources

  If you are looking for additional information about TRICARE or forms that you may need, this page may help. It has links to websites that have information about TRICARE.