TRICARE Health Benefits

Military members are provided a health benefit through TRICARE. This benefit is made through the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). Active-duty and retired service members are automatically registered in DEERS, but additional action is required to enroll eligible dependents.

TRICARE provides health benefits to approximately 9.5 million beneficiaries around the world. These beneficiaries include individuals, who are currently serving in the United States military, members of the National Guard and Reserve, individuals, who have retired from work and families of people who have retired from their posts in the United States military. In addition to this, these facilities are also extended to survivors as well as former spouses or any other individuals who have been registered or enrolled in DEERS, which is the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.

TRICARE Eligibility

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Policy Interpretation Question (PIQ) has advised states not to send the National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) if the noncustodial parent is active duty or retired military. (See OCSE PIQ-06-02, Guidance for Sending the National Medical Support Notice to the Defense Manpower Data Center.) Reservists are not entitled to TRICARE eligibility until 30 days of active duty. A reservist/noncustodial parent may be employed elsewhere. You can potentially learn of a reservist’s place of employment by means of a quarterly wage or new hire reporting match from the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS). You may then send the NMSN to that employer.

How TRICARE Information is Received by CSS

Federal Case Registry (FCR) data are sent to the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) for matching. DMDC matches the FCR participants with its records and indicates which children are eligible and enrolled for TRICARE. DMDC then sends the health benefits matching information to CSS. There are three CMOD reports with these data. They are:

• CY909R01, The Child is Currently Enrolled in Medical Coverage. Child Support Specialist should update the Third Party Liability (TPL) screens to document this coverage.
• CY909R02, A Child is Eligible Based on the CP or NCP/PF (Noncustodial Parent/Putative Father) Current Medical Coverage, But is Not Enrolled. The MEDTRI letter should be sent to the custodian to inform him/her health coverage for the child(ren) is available and how to contact the military to start the enrollment process. A National Medical Support Notice (NMSN aka MED5) is not sent to the military. The military member or the custodian must contact the military for enrollment to occur.
• CY909R03, A Child was Previously Enrolled but Not Currently Enrolled and Neither a CP nor NCP/PF is Enrolled. Child Support Specialist should update the Third Party Liability (TPL) screens to document the lapse of coverage.

Legal Authorities

45 CFR 302.33, 302.56, 303.7, 303.30, and 303.31
36 O.S. § 6058A
OAC 340:25-5-171 ITS
OCSE PIQ-06-02