Once someone is at an academy, are their medical expenses covered thru the academy or are they still covered by their parent's insurance? Or does it depend on if they are at the academy or home on leave? We are trying to estimate medical costs next year and this info would help. Thanks. (of note: our son is a USNA Foundation sponsored student at a prep school this year and we are hoping he receives an appointment for class of 2019!)
Medical Insurance
- Thread starter jwjd
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ca2midwestmom
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At least at West Point, once a candidate shows up on R-Day and starts Beast, s/he is covered under Tricare, including all medical/dental/vision benefits. My understanding is cadets use their ID card as their health insurance card. As long as they are a cadet at WP, they are covered (including holidays, summers, etc) and encouraged to use those doctors. I would guess USNA is the same/similar.
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Yes a cadet or mid is covered under TriCare (the military health insurance). While there is no need for you to keep him/her on your plan it is recommended that you do for the first two years. All care both at the Academy and while on leave must be coordinated through their Assigned care provider at the Academy. I know this is true for all of the Academies except USMMA. Them,I am not sure about.
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Can anyone explain what the benefit of keeping them on my personal policy is? I have one son who is enlisted and now my second son at an Academy. I kept my eldest on our policy since it would not save me any money to remove him. Now that my youngest is in the Academy I can remove both sons and save quite a bit on my health insurance premiums as it would just cover me and my wife (Removing children coverage).
I am not against keeping them on my policy but I'm just not sure what I gain by doing that. The only logical reason I can come up with is to avoid a possible issue adding them back on to our policy should they leave the military unexpectedly but that is not an issue with my current health insurance.
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^^^ yes. That is the reason I've been told as well. For us, our family coverage is paid by my former employer and Family Coverage is the same with one child as it is with 5 so there is no savings to take him off. I can certainly understand your position if there would be no problem adding him back.
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kp2001
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I'm wondering if the Affordable Care Act changes regarding medical insurance for those in higher education should cause this advice to be updated. It very well may, but even though I'm a doctor I still don't understand everything in that Act.
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I would definitely cancel the insurance on my DS/DD once they finish plebe summer and seem confident they are going to stick it out. If for some reason they don't, I am sure that is considered a "qualifying event" with your insurance company and you could pick them back up at that point. I would call your insurance provider to make sure it is a "qualifying event" first though.
Insurance is expensive and it seems silly to spend 2 years worth of premiums on someone who doesn't need it.
Insurance is expensive and it seems silly to spend 2 years worth of premiums on someone who doesn't need it.
^^^ Agreed. We checked with our insurance to make sure we could get our son back on if he left the academy for any reason. In fact, if they need medical care while on leave, they're required to use a Tricare provider.