TRICARE Young Adult Cost 2027: Premiums, Eligibility and Enrollment

Amounts are per individual, from the tricare.mil TYA premiums FAQ (Last updated 8/21/2026). The 2026 amounts also match the tricare.mil costs page, which showed only calendar year 2026 costs when we checked. The change columns are our arithmetic from those amounts.

How the premium is set:

Qualified young adult dependents are charged premiums for coverage under TYA that represent the full cost of the program, including reasonable administrative costs, as determined by the Director utilizing an appropriate actuarial basis for the provision of TRICARE benefits for the TYA-eligible beneficiary population.

The monthly amount of the premium in effect for a month for coverage under the TRICARE program pursuant to this section shall be the amount equal to the cost of such coverage that the Secretary determines on an appropriate actuarial basis.

The monthly rate for each month of a calendar year is one-twelfth of the annual rate for that calendar year.

TYA premiums are adjusted annually, effective Jan. 1.

What else you pay:

Except for monthly premiums, all TRICARE Young Adult costs follow Group B costs, based on your plan option and sponsor’s status.

When enrolled in TYA, you follow Group B cost-shares, deductibles, and catastrophic caps.

Deductibles, cost-shares and catastrophic caps are listed on the tricare.mil TYA costs page. The sponsor's status changes some of them, such as the Select deductible.

According to the TYA fact sheet, you can buy TYA if you are all of the following:

• An adult child of an eligible uniformed service sponsor
• Unmarried
• At least age 21 but not yet 26 years old

You may not buy TYA if you are:

• Eligible for an employer-sponsored health plan under your own employment
• Otherwise eligible for TRICARE program coverage
• Married
• A uniformed service sponsor (for example, an active duty service member or a member of the Selected Reserve)

TYA is an option for unmarried adult children who have aged out of regular TRICARE coverage.

Note: You aren’t eligible for TYA if you’re eligible for an employer-sponsored health plan.

If you’re enrolled in a full course of study at an approved institution of higher learning and your sponsor provides more than 50% of your financial support, your eligibility may not begin until age 23 or upon graduation, whichever comes first.

The TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) program offers options of medical benefits provided under the TRICARE program to qualified unmarried adult children of TRICARE-eligible uniformed service sponsors who do not otherwise have eligibility for medical coverage under a TRICARE program at age 21 (23 if enrolled in a full-time course of study at an approved institution of higher learning, and the sponsor provides over 50 percent of the student’s financial support), and are under age 26.

Your sponsor can be active duty, retired, in the Transitional Assistance Management Program, a survivor of a member who died on active duty or while receiving retired or retainer pay, or a Reserve sponsor enrolled in TRICARE Reserve Select or TRICARE Retired Reserve. Your sponsor must keep DEERS current, and you must show as eligible there.

Includes National Guard and Reserve members called or ordered to active duty for more than 30 days for a preplanned mission or in support of a contingency operation.

Survivors of members who died while on active duty for more than 30 days or while receiving retired or retainer pay.

TYA is only available for individuals and isn’t offered as a family plan.

If you qualify, you can purchase TYA coverage at any time.

1. Online: log in to milConnect and use Beneficiary Web Enrollment.
2. By phone: call your regional contractor or USFHP provider (East Region 800-444-5445; West Region 888-TRIWEST). Overseas, call your regional call center.
3. By fax or mail: download the TYA application (DD Form 2947) for your region.

Mail or fax it with your initial two-month premium payment to your regional contractor or USFHP provider, whichever applies.

Premiums: Your completed application must include the first two months of premium payments paid by personal check, cashier’s check, money order, or credit or debit card. After the initial payment, you must pay premiums in advance by monthly automatic electronic payment.

When you buy TYA-Prime or TYA-Select coverage, your coverage begins on the date the TRICARE regional contractor receives your completed application, or on a date up to 90 days in the future that you specify.

Your premium payment is due no later than the last day of the month for the next month’s coverage.

If you enroll from overseas:

If enrolling in TYA-Select, please enroll by fax or mail.

If you are not already in DEERS, your sponsor must add you first. You can enroll without a valid Uniformed Services ID card and get a new one at an ID card office after coverage begins. The tricare.mil Open Season page lists people enrolled in TRICARE Young Adult among those it does not apply to, so you do not wait for open season to buy TYA. See the TRICARE Open Season 2026 page for the other plans.

Regulation text and current practice differ. The regulation text (32 CFR 199.26, last amended at 82 FR 45460, Sept. 29, 2017) says:

Generally, the effective date of coverage will coincide with the first day of a month unless enrollment is due to a qualifying event and a different date on or after the qualifying event is required to prevent a lapse in health care coverage.

Absent a new qualifying event, young adults are not eligible to re-enroll in TYA until the next annual open season.

The current tricare.mil FAQ and the June 2026 fact sheet instead say:

You can buy TRICARE Young Adult at any time.

Where they differ, tricare.mil and your regional contractor govern, so confirm your start date and any re-enrollment limits with them.

Dental and vision insurance.

TYA doesn’t include dental or vision coverage.

The exception is a routine eye exam. The tricare.mil Vision page says:

If you have TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Young Adult Prime, you’re covered for a routine eye exam every two years.

If you have TRICARE Select, TRICARE Young Adult Select, or TRICARE For Life, routine eye exams aren’t covered.

Dental. The regulation says:

The TRICARE Dental Program (§ 199.13) and the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (§ 199.22) are not covered under TYA.

Not included. You may buy separate dental coverage.

FEDVIP. The TYA FAQ and the Open Season page say:

You may have the option to enroll in vision coverage through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP).

Visit BENEFEDS to check your eligibility, compare FEDVIP plans and rates, enroll in a plan, and more.

So the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) is not covered under TYA, and FEDVIP eligibility is determined through BENEFEDS. TYA premiums also do not count toward your deductible or catastrophic cap.

The TRICARE Newsroom (May 7, 2026) answers “When do you become ineligible for TYA?” this way:

Your TYA coverage ends the day before your 26th birthday—or sooner if you: Get married Become eligible for an employer-sponsored health plan Become eligible for another TRICARE program Your sponsor loses TRICARE eligibility If you become eligible again, you can reenroll later.

10 U.S.C. 1110b supports the age limit: it requires that you have “not attained the age of 26.” The tricare.mil ending page and the fact sheet word the same event as “You reach age 26.”

When you’re no longer eligible for TYA, you may qualify to purchase CHCBP coverage.

If you end TYA coverage, you’ll be locked out from buying TYA coverage for 12 months. There’s no lockout if you end coverage because you become eligible for employer-sponsored health plan, under your own employment, or you gain other TRICARE coverage.

Not paying on time also ends coverage and starts a 12-month lockout.