2022 Tricare Open Season: How to Enroll in Tricare or Change Your Health Care Plan

Tricare open season for enrollment changes is from Nov. 14 – Dec. 13, 2022.

Tricare Prime and Tricare Select members must review their healthcare options to ensure they have the best plan for their needs. Since 2019, members can only switch plans during open enrollment or upon a qualifying life event.

Members of the Tricare Dental and Vision plans must also review their options. Membership eligibility for some military members or retirees is transitioning to the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP.)

Here’s what you need to know about Tricare enrollment in 2022.

What Is Open Season, and What Does It Mean for Military Members and Military Retirees?

Open season, or open enrollment, is the time of year when participants can change their healthcare plans.

Tricare participants can change their healthcare selection once per year unless they experience a qualifying life event, such as a new job, job loss, marriage, or divorce. Open enrollment helps healthcare providers reduce costs by maintaining consistent enrollment throughout the year. It also reduces the associated costs of people changing plans at will.

Current Tricare members need to be aware of two open enrollment seasons, Tricare Open Season and the Federal Benefits Open Season.

Tricare Open Season

Tricare open season is from Nov. 14 to Dec. 13, 2022. It applies to enrollment in a Tricare Prime or Tricare Select healthcare plan. It does not apply to other Tricare plans, such as:

Federal Benefits Open Season

Federal benefits open season is also from Nov. 14 to Dec. 13, 2022. It applies to military members or retirees who purchase dental or vision care through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP.)

FEDVIP Dental Program: The FEDVIP Dental program only applies to military retirees. (Tricare Dental is no longer available for military retirees as of 2019.) All other military members will continue to be eligible for the Tricare dental program.

Here’s some more information on the Military Retiree Dental Insurance program change.

FEDVIP Vision Program: The FEDVIP vision plan does not apply to active-duty military members.

When Is Open Enrollment, and What Do I Need to Do?

Tricare open season for enrollment changes is from Nov. 14 to Dec. 13, 2022. The FEDVIP program has the same open-enrollment dates.

During open enrollment, take time to review your current healthcare selection and ensure it still meets your needs.

You have three options:

Do nothing. If you want to stay in your current Tricare healthcare plan, you don’t have to take any action. You’ll continue in your current health plan through 2023 or as long as you’re eligible.
Enroll in a plan. If you’re eligible for a Tricare Prime option or Tricare Select but aren’t enrolled, you can enroll in a plan now.
Change plans. If you’re already enrolled in a Tricare Prime option or Tricare Select, you can switch plans between individual and family enrollment.

You don’t need to take any action if you want to continue using your current plan. Your current enrollment should automatically roll over for next year.

Remember that you can’t change your healthcare plan outside the open season unless you experience a qualifying life event. Now is the time to enroll if you aren’t enrolled in a Tricare plan.

Finally, you can change plans if doing so is a better option for you and your family.

What Are Qualifying Life Events?

A qualifying life event (QLE) is a significant change in your life situation. QLEs allow you to enroll in or make changes to your healthcare plan outside the regular open enrollment season.

Each healthcare plan may have its own rules for qualifying life events. For example, Tricare gives you a 90-day window to make changes after each QLE, according to its website. You have a 60-day window to make changes to Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange healthcare plans, according to Healthcare.gov. Rules may also be different for federal healthcare plans, such as FEDVIP, FEHB, FSAFEDS or FEGLI.

A civilian employer plan may have different rules, so check your policy for more information.

Qualifying Life Events for Tricare

You can make changes to your Tricare plan within 90 days of a qualifying life event. However, other healthcare plans may have a smaller window to make changes.

Here’s a list of qualifying life events, according to the Tricare website.

Getting married or divorced
Having a baby or adopting
Children going to college
Children becoming adults
Becoming Medicare-eligible
Moving
Death in family
Losing or gaining other health insurance

Qualifying Life Events for FEDVIP

The Benefeds.gov website has more information regarding qualifying life events for the FEDVIP healthcare plans.

The Benefeds website lists the following QLEs:

Getting married
Losing other dental or vision coverage
Acquiring a family member
Losing a family member
Returning from leave without pay
Returning from active duty
Restoring annuity or compensation
Moving
Returning to active duty
Transferring positions

When and How Can I Change My Health Care Plan?

You can only change your Tricare plan during Tricare open season or when you have a qualifying life event. The option you choose will remain in place for the calendar year unless you opt to change it after a qualifying event.

You can change your Tricare enrollment in the following ways:

You will be required to pay any enrollment costs at the time of enrollment.

Enrollment Eligibility

The Tricare website has this helpful chart to help you determine when you can make changes to your Tricare healthcare or FEDVIP healthcare plan:

Military Status	I want to change my Tricare plan	I want to enroll in a FEDVIP vision plan	I want to enroll in a FEDVIP dental plan
Active-duty service member	You can only change plans if you’re retiring. At retirement, coverage ends.	You do not qualify to purchase a FEDVIP vision plan. You will continue to get care as you do now.	You do not qualify to purchase a FEDVIP dental plan. You will continue to get care as you do now.
Active-duty family member* *Not including adult children enrolled in Tricare Young Adult	You can change plans during the Tricare open season.	You must enroll during the Federal Benefits open season.	You do not qualify to purchase a FEDVIP dental plan. You can get your dental care through the Tricare Dental Program.
Reserve Component member or family member enrolled in Reserve Select	No action needed. This doesn’t apply to you.	You must enroll during the Federal Benefits open season.	You do not qualify to purchase a FEDVIP dental plan. You can get your dental care through the Tricare Dental Program.
Retired service member or family member enrolled in Tricare Prime, Tricare Select	You can change plans during the Tricare open season.	You must enroll during the Federal Benefits open season.	TRDP ended on Dec. 31, 2018. You must enroll in a FEDVIP dental plan during the Federal Benefits open season to maintain coverage.
Retired service member or family member using Tricare for Life	No action needed. This doesn’t apply to you.	You must enroll during Federal Benefits open season.	TRDP ended on Dec. 31, 2018. You must enroll in a FEDVIP dental plan during the Federal Benefits open season to maintain coverage.

Where Can I Get More Information?

Health care benefits frequently change. This is true for Tricare, FEDVIP, civilian healthcare plans and plans you may get through an employer. Our site can’t track all changes for all plans. So please consider this article to be informational only.

Check with your healthcare provider for more information or review Tricare’s current open season FAQs online.