TRICARE Students Returning to Local Area

  • Published
  • By Liz Paine
  • 14 Medical Support Squadron
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  With the summer fast approaching, many students will be returning to the area to be with family until the next school term. Did you know if those TRICARE eligible students are not enrolled to a Primary Care Manager (PCM) at the Columbus AFB Military Treatment Facility (MTF), they will be unable to make an appointment at the Columbus AFB clinic?

If the students are enrolled in TRICARE Prime, they must seek all of their routine, urgent, and non-behavioral health care appointments from their assigned PCM; otherwise, their care will be covered under the point-of-service (POS) option. This can result in the patient receiving a bill for their medical care or other out-of-pocket costs. TRICARE Prime referral and authorization rules will be applied to any kind of specialty care they may require. In case of any emergencies, students should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room, and notify their PCM within 24 hours to ensure proper claims of payment. To learn more about the differences among routine, urgent, specialty, and emergency care, please visit www.tricare.mil.

Children remain eligible for regular TRICARE coverage up to age 21, or age of 23 if enrolled in a full course of study at any approved institution of higher learning and are dependent on the sponsor for more than half of their financial support. After "aging out" at age 21 or 23, children (up to the age of 26) who are not married and not eligible for their own employer-sponsored health insurance may qualify for TRICARE Young Adult coverage (based on sponsor's eligibility for TRICARE). For more information, go to www.tricare.mil.

If students wish to be seen at the Columbus AFB clinic, we recommend their sponsor and/or the students (if 18 or older) visit the Humana Military website at http://www.humana-military.com, or call 1-800-444-5445 to get enrolled to one of our providers for the duration of their stay in the Columbus local area. Once they return to school, they are strongly encouraged to enroll with a PCM in their local area to ensure access to medical care throughout the school year.