{"id":62023,"date":"2022-07-20T18:23:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T18:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/07\/20\/expand-tricare-for-veterans-living-in-us-territories\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:43:49","slug":"expand-tricare-for-veterans-living-in-us-territories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/07\/20\/expand-tricare-for-veterans-living-in-us-territories\/","title":{"rendered":"Expand Tricare for veterans living in US territories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In May 2022, the American Legion passed<\/a> Resolution Number 26 to little fanfare. The resolution announced The Legion\u2019s support for legislation that would mandate making Tricare Prime \u2014 the government sponsored healthcare benefit offered to uniformed service members, their dependents, and retirees \u2014 available to all veterans residing in any United States territory, just as if they lived in the 50 states or Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the American Legion supported ending an institutionalized health inequity that disproportionately affects people of color. This inequity is not required by law and there is no indication that Congress ever intended to give the Department of Defense authority to discriminate against one set of U.S. veterans over another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peer reviewed academic literature supports the claim that this inequity in access could result in poorer health outcomes for veterans living in the territories. To understand why, a short primer<\/a> on Tricare itself is helpful. Tricare is a universal insurance program for uniformed service members in the Department of Defense service branches, Coast Guard, and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, or USPHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most circumstances, all active duty service members in the DoD are mandatorily enrolled in Tricare Prime. Prime \u2014 a healthcare maintenance organization, or HMO \u2014 provides beneficiaries with the ability to access medical care at a Military Treatment Facility, or MTF, which includes military hospitals and clinics like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. If the local facility cannot meet the demand, Prime allows the beneficiaries to access a network of civilian providers. This network is established around MTFs in what is called a Prime Service Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tricare Select is the preferred provider option, or PPO. Beneficiaries, either retirees or active duty family members, may elect to enroll in Select if they prefer the PPO, or could be required to enroll if, for example, they live too far away from a Prime Service Area. But in the territories there is no option to enroll in Prime for retirees and their families. Instead, they can only enroll in Select.<\/p>\n\n\n\t