TRICARE Reserve Select now offers lower premiums Published Jan. 23, 2009 FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- National Guard and Reserve families are ringing in the New Year with exceptional savings on their healthcare coverage. The monthly premiums for TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) member coverage officially dropped Jan. 1, 2009 by 42 percent, from $81 to $47.51. TRS member-and-family coverage dropped 29 percent, from $253 to $180.17. In response to the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act, section 704, TRICARE analyzed Reserve Select costs from 2006 and 2007 and adjusted TRS premium rates for 2009. "TRS premiums are billed a month in advance, so members started seeing reductions in early December, 2008" said Army Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director of TRICARE Management Activity. "This is good timing considering these challenging economic times." "TRS offers an opportunity for our members and families to have comprehensive, affordable healthcare coverage," said Col. Marty Wong, head of the joint family program for the National Guard Bureau. "This is great news." Granger also noted the benefits of purchasing coverage in the relatively new health plan open to qualified members of the Selected Reserve. "TRS has only been around since 2005," he said. "Now is one of the best times in the short history of TRS to sign up and start receiving healthcare benefits." The TRS program was greatly streamlined in October 2007. Since then, the number of members has more than doubled. "TRS covered about 35,000 National Guard and Reserve members and families in late 2007," said Granger. "Now we have over 80,000." TRS delivers coverage similar to TRICARE Standard and Extra to qualified members who purchase the coverage and pay monthly premiums. TRS also features continuously open enrollment. To qualify, candidates must be members of the Selected Reserve and cannot be enrolled in or eligible for the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program. For instance, National Guard or Reserve personnel are not eligible to purchase TRS if their spouses have family plans under FEHB and the members are covered (enrolled) under FEHB. Once a member's qualifications are established by the services, the member can go to the TRICARE Reserve Select page at http://www.tricare.mil/trs and follow the instructions to purchase coverage through the Guard and Reserve Web portal found on the page. The direct link to the Guard and Reserve portal is https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/trs/index.jsp. For more information about TRS visit the TRICARE Web site at http://www.tricare.mil/trs. About TRICARE Management Activity and the Military Health System TRICARE Management Activity, the Defense Department activity that administers the health care plan for the uniformed services, retirees and their families, serves more than 9.2 million eligible beneficiaries worldwide in the Military Health System (MHS). The mission of the MHS is to enhance Department of Defense and national security by providing health support for the full range of military operations. The MHS provides quality medical care through a network of providers, military treatment facilities, medical clinics and dental clinics worldwide. For more about the MHS go to www.health.mil. Stay with www.302aw.afrc.af.mil for the latest news and information.