1. TRICARE YOUR MILITARY HEALTH PLAN TRICARE Programs/Benefits for the National Guard and Reserve During Pre-Activation and Activation
ATTENTION PRESENTER: To ensure that TRICARE beneficiaries receive the most up-to-date information about their health benefits, you must visit for the latest version of all briefings before each presentation. Briefings are continuously updated as benefit changes occur.
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Estimated Briefing Time: 30 minutes
Target Audience: Members of the National Guard and Reserve during early activation and activation for more than 30 consecutive days.
Recommended Handouts: (available at
Your TRICARE Resources fact sheet
TRICARE Choices for the National Guard and Reserve fact sheet
Briefing Objectives:
Increase awareness of TRICARE eligibility and active duty benefits for National Guard and Reserve members and families
Tell beneficiaries the necessary steps for accessing their TRICARE benefit
Optional Presenter Comments: Welcome to the TRICARE Benefits/Programs for the National Guard and Reserve During Pre-Activation and Activation briefing. The goal of today’s presentation is to talk about how to use your TRICARE benefit during early activation and when activated for more than 30 consecutive days.

2. Today’s Agenda
Today, we will discuss what TRICARE is, how to establish and verify your eligibility, and what medical coverage is available to you at the various stages of your National Guard and Reserve career.
We will also cover some other important information including overviews of pharmacy options and dental programs.
Finally, I’ll provide you with important contact information, so you can get assistance and find answers to any additional questions you may have.

3. What is TRICARE?
TRICARE is the uniformed services health care program for active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retired service members, family members, and others who are eligible.
Note: Throughout this presentation, the term family members means those dependents of service members who are eligible TRICARE beneficiaries based on federal law and regulations.
TRICARE brings together the health care resources of the Military Health System— such as military hospitals and clinics—with a network of civilian health care professionals, institutions, pharmacies, and suppliers.
TRICARE has no preexisting-condition exclusions, so you cannot be denied TRICARE coverage because of a health condition you had before becoming a TRICARE beneficiary.

4. What is TRICARE? TRICARE Stateside Regions
TRICARE is available worldwide and managed regionally. There are three TRICARE regions in the United States – TRICARE West, TRICARE North, and TRICARE South – and one overseas region. Your benefits are the same regardless of what region you live in, but you will have different customer service contacts depending on your regional contractor.
TriWest Healthcare Alliance administers the benefit in the West Region, Health Net Federal Services administers the benefit in the North Region, and Humana Military Healthcare Services administers the benefit in the South Region. All three regional contractors partner with the Military Health System to provide you with health, medical, and administrative support, including customer service, claims processing, and authorizations for certain health care services.
Customer service information for each region will be provided at the end of this presentation.
While TRICARE programs and services exist overseas and I’ll provide you with contact information to learn more about the TRICARE Overseas Program, we’ll focus on stateside regions for this particular presentation.

5. TRICARE Eligibility: Register Your Family in DEERS
The Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, is a worldwide database of service members and dependents who are entitled to military benefits, including TRICARE.
Service members, or sponsors, should be automatically registered in DEERS. However, sponsors must register family members in DEERS for them to be eligible for TRICARE coverage.
To register family members in DEERS, sponsors should visit a uniformed services ID card-issuing facility or mail the information to the Defense Manpower Data Center Support Office.
Proper documentation, such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, birth certificate, and/or adoption papers, is required.
In the sponsor’s absence, an individual with valid power of attorney can add or remove family members from DEERS.

6. TRICARE Eligibility
At any time, you can verify eligibility through the Web, the military treatment facility’s, or MTF’s, Patient Administration Office, or by contacting your service’s personnel office.
Anytime the sponsor’s status changes in DEERS, family members who are registered in DEERS will also have their eligibility and status changed accordingly.
Remember that providers are legally permitted to copy military and dependent ID cards to verify TRICARE eligibility.

7. TRICARE Eligibility: Updating DEERS
While only the sponsor can add or remove family members in DEERS, both the sponsor and adult family members can update contact information. Whenever there is a change in family status, such as marriage, birth, adoption, divorce, or death, the sponsor must update DEERS.
Promptly update your information when any change occurs, regardless of duty status.
Once you and your family are registered in DEERS, be sure to keep addresses and other contact information up to date for all family members.
Keeping DEERS information current, especially your address, is critical to ensuring uninterrupted TRICARE coverage for you and your family.
You can contact DEERS online, by phone, or by fax. For more information, go to
Update your information online through the milConnect Web site listed on the screen. MilConnect is the Defense Manpower Data Center’s online portal that gives you access to your information in DEERS. For more information about milConnect, visit:
If you prefer to update your information in person, you can visit a uniformed services ID card-issuing facility.
Note: Newborns are automatically covered under TRICARE Prime for the first 60 days if another family member is enrolled in TRICARE Prime. After 60 days, newborns not registered in DEERS are covered under TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra until their first birthday. On the 366th day, they are no longer eligible for TRICARE benefits. Pre-adoptive and adopted children, as well as court- ordered wards, must be registered in DEERS before they are TRICARE eligible. Claims will be denied until they are registered.

8. TRICARE Eligibility: Coverage Lifecycle
TRICARE has many programs that enable National Guard and Reserve members and their families to have continuous coverage throughout their military careers.
This diagram shows your TRICARE eligibility life cycle.
When you receive active duty orders, you and your family members may become eligible for active duty TRICARE benefits. These benefits will continue when you begin serving on active duty. We will discuss the pre-activation and activation stages in greater detail later in this presentation. Other briefings discuss inactive status and deactivation.

9. Medical Coverage: Early Eligibility
Sponsors who are being activated for more than 30 consecutive days in support of a contingency operation may be eligible for up to 180 days of early-eligibility pre- activation benefits. These benefits are based on delayed-effective-date active duty orders; the sponsor’s service personnel office must update the member’s DEERS status to show eligibility.
If your orders are rescinded prior to your report date, then your TRICARE coverage ends on the “effective date” the orders are rescinded. You may qualify to purchase TRICARE Reserve Select. Or you may wish to talk to your employer about getting your employer-based health plan reinstated.
Note: Be assured, none of the TRICARE coverage you have already had from the time of pre-alert notification or activation to rescinded orders will be taken away from you.

10. Medical Coverage: Service Members – Pre-Activation and Active Duty Benefits
If you are a National Guard or Reserve member who has been issued delayed- effective-date orders for more than 30 consecutive days in support of a contingency operation, you become eligible for pre-activation benefits along with your family.
To prevent delays in getting care, verify that DEERS shows you as TRICARE eligible.
If possible, seek all routine medical care at a military treatment facility, or MTF. If you live and work more than 50 miles or a one-hour drive away from an MTF, contact your regional contractor for assistance locating a civilian TRICARE provider. Remember that providers are legally permitted to copy military and dependent ID cards to verify TRICARE eligibility.
Note: Urgent care services are medically necessary services required for an illness or injury that would not result in further disability or death if not treated immediately, but does require professional attention within 24 hours. All urgent care requires a Service Point of Contact, or SPOC, review from the Military Medical Support Office, or MMSO. SPOC review is also required for specialty care and inpatient care.

11. Medical Coverage: Service Members – Pre-Activation and Active Duty Benefits
If you need specialty care, contact your MTF or TRICARE-authorized civilian provider. Your provider will coordinate your specialty care authorizations.
Specialty care is generally defined as treatment that a primary care manager is not able to provide.
For emergencies, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. You do not need a referral or authorization, but, if admitted, contact your unit or the MMSO within 24 hours or the next business day.
Enrollment in TRICARE Prime may be required at your final duty station. Upon arrival, follow your command’s guidance.
Note: Service members living near an MTF may enroll in TRICARE Prime at the MTF. Enrollment in TRICARE Prime Remote or with a civilian primary care manager is not authorized during the pre-activation period. For those deploying overseas, enrollment is not necessary. Service members who will be periodically relocating to various bases or posts for additional training during their early- eligibility period are encouraged to seek care at an MTF, if nearby, but may seek covered primary care from a TRICARE-authorized civilian provider.

12. Medical Coverage: Family Members – Program Options
Your family members may have different program options depending on their location. We’ll discuss each of these programs in greater detail over the next few slides.
All active duty family members, or ADFMs, become eligible for TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra coverage as soon as they show eligibility in DEERS.
Note: TRICARE Extra is only available in the United States.
TRICARE Prime is available to beneficiaries living in Prime Service Areas, or PSAs. PSAs are areas near military hospitals or clinics and civilian provider offices, where regional contractors have established TRICARE Prime networks. TRICARE Prime is available worldwide.
TRICARE Young Adult, or TYA, is a premium-based health care plan available for purchase by qualified dependents.
TYA extends TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Standard coverage for eligible dependents who are at least 21 (or age 23 if previously enrolled in a full-time course of study at an approved institution of higher learning and if the sponsor provides at least 50 percent of the financial support), but have not yet reached age 26.
Family members living in certain areas are also eligible for the US Family Health Plan, or USFHP, which is a TRICARE Prime option available in six designated areas across the United States. You may purchase TYA coverage to extend USFHP benefits to qualified dependents. A map showing the designated areas will be provided later in this presentation.

13. Medical Coverage: Family Members – More Program Options
TRICARE Prime Remote for Active Duty Family Members, or TPRADFM, has been adapted for National Guard and Reserve families.
You qualify for remote status if you live and work more than 50 miles from the closest MTF.
Family members are eligible if they lived with their sponsor in a remote location when the sponsor received unaccompanied orders for active duty. In this case, the family members remain eligible as long as they stay at the address where they lived with their sponsor.
To find out if you live in a remote service area, visit the ZIP Code Look-Up Tool at or contact your regional contractor.
Remember, all TRICARE Prime programs require enrollment.

14. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra – Getting Care
Once your service personnel updates your status in DEERS, your family members are covered by TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra, unless they enroll in a TRICARE Prime option.
The key difference between TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra is in your choice of providers. With TRICARE Standard, you choose TRICARE-authorized hospitals and providers outside of the TRICARE network and pay higher cost- shares. With TRICARE Extra, you choose hospitals and providers within the TRICARE network, where available, and receive discounted cost-shares.
Although referrals are not required for most health care services, some services require prior authorization to determine medical necessity.
Visit your regional contractor’s Web site for information about authorization requirements.
In the event of an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Referral or prior authorization is not required, but, if admitted, contact your regional contractor within 24 hours or the next business day to coordinate ongoing care.
TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra beneficiaries may also receive care at military hospitals and clinics on a space-available basis; however, space can be very limited.
TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra beneficiaries have the flexibility to visit any TRICARE-authorized provider, which is a doctor or other provider who is approved to provide care to TRICARE beneficiaries.

15. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra –Getting Care
Your out-of-pocket costs will be lower if you see a TRICARE-network provider. A network provider is a TRICARE-authorized provider who has an agreement with your regional contractor to accept TRICARE rates as payment in full and file claims on your behalf. To find a network provider, visit tricare.mil/findaprovider or contact your regional contractor.
If you plan to see a non-network provider, ask if he or she accepts TRICARE and is authorized to receive payment by TRICARE before receiving care. If not, you may invite the provider to become TRICARE-authorized at any time. The provider simply needs to contact the TRICARE regional contractor for more information. You may have to file your own claims when seeing non-network providers.
If overseas, you may receive care from any host nation provider or MTF (on a space-available basis) without a referral, unless local TRICARE Overseas Program restrictions require seeing only approved providers.

16. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra – Costs
Now, let’s talk about costs associated with TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra. Most TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra beneficiaries have an annual deductible, but the deductible is waived for National Guard and Reserve family members whose sponsor is activated for more than 30 consecutive days in support of a contingency operation.
You and your family are responsible for cost-shares. This is the amount you pay for TRICARE-covered services, which vary depending on whether your family members see network or non-network providers.
The cost-share for outpatient services, such as routine doctors’ visits, is 15 percent when you see TRICARE-network providers (using the TRICARE Extra option) and 20 percent when you see non-network providers (using the TRICARE Standard option).
Costs apply through September 30 and may change each fiscal year, which is October 1 through September 30.
For the most up-to-date cost information, visit
Non-network TRICARE providers can choose to accept TRICARE rates, or “participate” in TRICARE, on a claim-by-claim basis.
Nonparticipating providers can charge as much as 15 percent above the TRICARE-allowable rate.
The catastrophic cap is the maximum amount you pay out of pocket for TRICARE- covered services per fiscal year. The $1,000 cap includes deductibles, cost-shares, and prescription copayments, but it does not include monthly TRICARE Reserve Select premiums you may have paid before you were called to active duty.

17. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Plus
TRICARE Plus is a primary care enrollment program offered at select MTFs.
Although TRICARE Plus is not a health care plan, it offers primary care at the MTF to TRICARE Standard beneficiaries.
MTF commanders may limit enrollment based on capability and capacity. Continued enrollment in TRICARE Plus is determined by the MTF commander on a case-by-case basis.
Primary care services are offered to TRICARE Plus beneficiaries and their dependent parents or parents-in-law.
Enrollment in TRICARE Plus does not guarantee access to specialty care within the MTF.
Call your MTF for more information about TRICARE Plus.

18. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Young Adult (TYA)
The TRICARE Young Adult, or TYA, program is a premium-based health care plan available for purchase by qualified dependents.
You are eligible for TYA if you are all of the following:
An unmarried dependent of an eligible uniformed service sponsor
At least age 21 (or age 23 if enrolled in a full-time course of study at an approved institution of higher learning and if the sponsor provides more than 50 percent of the financial support), but have not yet reached age 26
Not eligible to enroll in an employer-sponsored health plan under your own employment
Not otherwise eligible for TRICARE program coverage
Note: If you are an adult child of a non-activated member of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve or of the Retired Reserve, your sponsor must be enrolled in TRICARE Reserve Select or TRICARE Retired Reserve for you to be eligible for TYA.
To enroll, you can access the TRICARE Young Adult Application for your region or for your United States Family Health Plan provider at You must verify that you are not married and not eligible to enroll in an employer- sponsored health plan under your own employment. Your completed application must include the first three months of premium payments.
Qualified dependents may be eligible to purchase TYA Prime or TYA Standard. Eligibility for TYA Prime or TYA Standard is based on the eligibility established by your sponsor and where you live. Rules and costs generally follow the same rules and costs of TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard.

19. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Prime – Enrollment
Unlike TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra, enrollment is required for TRICARE Prime coverage of family members. There are two ways to enroll in TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Prime Remote:
You can enroll online through the Beneficiary Web Enrollment Web site, which also allows you to update your DEERS information.
You can also pick up a TRICARE Prime Enrollment Application and PCM Change Form (DD Form 2876) for your region at your local TRICARE Service Center, or download one on the TRICARE Web site or regional contractor’s Web site and mail the completed and signed form to your regional contractor.
Family members enrolled in TRICARE Prime during early eligibility do not need to reenroll when the sponsor reports to active duty at his or her final duty station.

20. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Prime – Getting Care
TRICARE Prime options provide comprehensive health care coverage while minimizing your out-of-pocket costs.
TRICARE Prime enrollees will select or have assigned to them a primary care manager, or PCM, at military treatment facilities or within the TRICARE civilian provider network.
Note: If you are enrolled in TRICARE Prime Remote and there are no network primary care managers in your area, you can visit any TRICARE-authorized provider for care.
PCMs deliver routine care, such as preventive services and routine office visits, and they file claims on your behalf.
TRICARE Prime enrollees who need urgent or specialty care are required to work with their primary care managers or regional contractors to coordinate referrals and authorizations.
Urgent care is required for an illness or injury that won’t result in further disability or death if not treated immediately, but should be treated within 24 hours.
Examples of urgent care situations include sprains, sore throats, and rising temperatures.
Because these situations do not meet the standard for emergency services, you will need prior authorization to avoid out-of-pocket costs.
Specialty care is generally defined as care that your PCM cannot provide.
For emergencies, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Referrals and authorizations are not required for emergency services, but, if admitted, contact your regional contractor within 24 hours or the next business day to coordinate ongoing care.
Service members enrolled in TRICARE Prime, if admitted, should also contact their command as soon as possible.

21. Medical Coverage: TRICARE Prime – Costs for ADSMs and ADFMs
In general, those active duty service members, or ADSMs, who are enrolled in TRICARE Prime have no out-of-pocket costs for health care services.
However, family members are responsible for pharmacy copayments for prescriptions filled outside of military treatment facility pharmacies. Details on pharmacy costs are provided later in this presentation.
The point-of-service, or POS, option allows you to seek nonemergency care from any TRICARE-authorized provider without a referral. However, you will have increased out-of-pocket costs. 
Specifically, the POS option requires you to pay all allowable costs until your $300 deductible is met, and 50 percent of the TRICARE-allowable amount afterward.
Remember, ADSMs cannot use the POS option.
The $1,000 catastrophic cap, which is the maximum amount you will pay for covered health care services each fiscal year, includes deductibles, cost-shares, and prescription copayments, but it does not include point-of-service charges.

22. Medical Coverage: US Family Health Plan (USFHP)
The US Family Health Plan, or USFHP, is a TRICARE Prime option available through networks of community-based not-for-profit health care systems in six areas of the United States including certain areas in the Northeast, Washington State, and along the Gulf Coast.
USFHP is available to family members only and requires enrollment.
This option is not available to active duty service members.
USFHP participants have the same benefits as other TRICARE Prime beneficiaries, but may only receive health care, pharmacy services, and other services through the USFHP provider with whom they are enrolled. That means participants are not eligible for health care or pharmacy services at military treatment facilities.
To find out if you live in a USFHP-designated area, visit the Web site provided on the screen.
To enroll, family members can visit the Web site and click “Enroll Now.”

23. Additional Benefit Information: Behavioral Health Care Services
A behavioral health emergency occurs when the physical well-being of an individual or those around him or her is at risk. If you or someone you know experiences a behavioral health emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Outpatient services are behavioral health care services, such as appointments with psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other behavioral health professionals, that can be provided without an overnight stay.
The Telemental Health program enables treatment through the use of medically supervised, secure audio-visual conferencing to connect beneficiaries with off-site behavioral health providers. Services are provided at a TRICARE-authorized provider’s office or facility. This program is useful when distance makes it difficult to access behavioral health care services. For more information, contact your regional contractor.
Inpatient services are behavioral health care services that require an overnight stay such as rehabilitation for substance-use disorders.
For more information, visit .

24. Additional Benefit Information: Priority Access for Military Treatment Facility Care
Military hospitals and clinics grant access to care on a space-available basis.
Your priority for care at a military treatment facility, or MTF, is determined by your beneficiary category and TRICARE program option.
Active duty service members and National Guard and Reserve members on active duty status (on orders for more than 30 consecutive days) always have first priority for care.
After that, the priority is based on beneficiary category and program option.
Active duty family members enrolled in TRICARE Prime will have second priority, and space can be extremely limited for family members covered by TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra.

25. Additional Benefit Information: TRICARE Pharmacy Program
You may use the TRICARE pharmacy benefit unless you are enrolled in the US Family Health Plan.
To have a prescription filled, you will need the prescription, a valid uniformed services ID card, and up-to-date information in DEERS. Note: Pharmacies are legally permitted to copy military and dependent ID cards to verify TRICARE eligibility.
You will normally receive a generic drug rather than a brand-name drug. Your doctor or other provider must prove medical necessity for you to receive a brand- name medication if a generic version is available. Non-formulary drugs are not available to active duty service members without medical-necessity approval. If the ADSM receives approval, the copayment is $0.
Pharmacy costs depend on the pharmacy option you choose, whether the drug is generic or brand name, and whether it’s listed in the TRICARE formulary, which is the list of drugs covered by TRICARE.
There is no copayment when you fill a prescription at an MTF pharmacy.
If you have recurring prescriptions, such as allergy or blood pressure medicine, you can use TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery to order up to a 90-day supply by phone, online, or by mail. TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery copayments are $0 for generic formulary drugs, $9 for brand-name formulary drugs, and $25 for non-formulary drugs.
If you need a prescription filled immediately, your best option is to find one of TRICARE’s 56,000-plus retail network pharmacies. To find a retail network pharmacy, visit the Express Scripts Web site provided at the bottom of the screen.
The most expensive option is a non-network retail pharmacy.

26. Additional Benefit Information: Service Members – Active Duty Dental Program
When you, as the service member, have early-eligibility benefits or report for active duty for more than 30 consecutive days, you will be automatically covered by TRICARE dental benefits.
Note: If you were previously enrolled in the TRICARE Dental Program while inactive, you will be automatically disenrolled and covered by active duty dental benefits.
If you live and work within 50 miles of a military dental treatment facility, or DTF, you are required to seek dental care from that DTF.

27. Additional Benefit Information: Service Members – Active Duty Dental Program
The Active Duty Dental Program, or ADDP, is a DoD dental program. The benefit is administered by United Concordia Companies, Inc. which provides civilian dental care to service members who live and work in remote locations or obtain referrals from their military dentists.
To see a civilian dentist through the ADDP, you must have an Appointment Control Number, or ACN, authorizing the care.
If you are referred by a military dentist, he or she will give you a Referral Request Confirmation with the ACN.
If you live in a remote location, you can fill out an Appointment Request Form available on the ADDP Web site. From there, you can make the appointment yourself or have an ADDP Dental Care Finder make the appointment for you.
The Appointment Control Number is only valid for the service specified in the referral confirmation, so make sure to get another referral if you need additional services.
For more information about this program, visit the ADDP Web site.
Note: ADDP is only available in the United States and U.S. territories.
Contact International SOS Assistance, Inc., the administrator of the TRICARE Overseas Program, to coordinate dental care in remote overseas locations.

28. Additional Benefit Information: Family Members – TRICARE Dental Program (TDP)
The TRICARE Dental Program, or TDP, is a voluntary, premium-based DoD dental program available to your family members during your early activation and active duty periods.
The TDP benefit is administered by MetLife.
Monthly premiums depend on your duty status. As you can see on this chart, costs are lower when you are activated for more than 30 consecutive days. These premiums apply through January 31.
Note: Premiums are subject to change annually on February 1.
Most TDP care is provided by participating dentists in civilian networks. You can visit the TDP Web site to find a dentist, or you can obtain services from a nonparticipating dentist, which may result in higher costs.

29. Other Important Information: TRICARE and Other Health Insurance
TRICARE is the sole source of health care coverage for activated National Guard and Reserve members.
If you have other health insurance, or OHI, you may choose to keep it for your family while you are activated.
If you keep your OHI, TRICARE becomes the last payer for your family.
That means when your family member goes to the doctor, the doctor will file a claim with your other health insurance first and TRICARE pays what is left, up to the TRICARE-allowable charge. Note: This does not apply to Medicaid and certain other state programs.
If your other health insurance runs out, or for services covered by TRICARE that are not covered by your OHI, TRICARE becomes your primary payer.
If you have other health insurance:
You can find a link to the TRICARE Other Health Insurance Questionnaire by first going to and selecting your region, which will take you to the forms section of your contractor’s Web site. Fill out a questionnaire and follow the guidelines for submission. You can also pick up a form at your TRICARE Service Center.
Because your OHI pays first, your family members should follow the OHI’s rules for getting care.
Make sure your family’s providers know they have other health insurance and TRICARE. Keeping your regional contractor and health care providers informed about your OHI will allow them to better coordinate your benefits.
Note: Unlike OHI, supplemental insurance pays after TRICARE pays its portion of the bill, reimbursing you for out-of-pocket medical expenses paid to civilian providers based on the plan’s policies. Remember, you have a $1,000 catastrophic cap when considering supplemental insurance.

30. Other Important Information: Social Security Numbers
In an effort to protect the privacy of TRICARE beneficiaries, the Department of Defense, or DoD, is removing Social Security numbers from military ID cards, including the Common Access Card.
Your new ID card will have one or both of the following:
A 10-digit DoD ID number instead of your Social Security Number
A DoD Benefits Number, or DBN, if you are eligible for DoD benefits
Not all ID card holders are eligible for DoD benefits.
You will not need a new ID card until your old card expires.
For more information, visit

31. Other Important Information: Protecting Your Health Care Rights
The Department of Defense Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, ensures that uniformed service members are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their active duty service.
USERRA provides certain rights and protections, as long as you comply with all USERRA legal requirements, such as giving timely notice of a recall to your employer.
You have the right to continue health care coverage for up to 24 months when you are absent from work to serve on active duty.
You also have the right to be immediately reinstated in your employer’s health care plan without penalty if your active duty orders are rescinded or when you are reemployed after active duty service.
Note: You may be required to pay the full premium, including the portion previously paid by your employer.
For more information, contact the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, or ESGR.

32. Information and Assistance
This slide provides contact information for the stateside and overseas regional contractors, as well as other important information sources.
Remember, your regional contractor is tied to where you live and the number you call depends on where you live.