These Changes to Tricare Plans Are Taking Place in 2026

For years, lawmakers and defense officials have talked about streamlining Tricare into a single plan. That full consolidation hasn’t happened, but 2026 will come the closest yet, with a pilot program testing a new model in two cities and a batch of reforms targeting access and cost. Meanwhile, a new threat may affect the civilian hospitals that more than 700,000 military beneficiaries depend on.

What the Changed Due to the Fiscal 2026 NDAA and Otherwise

The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law in December 2025, included several Tricare provisions that take effect this year. The act and other measures:

Bolstered military medical billets. The fiscal 2026 NDAA extended a previously enacted halt on military medical billet cuts and required new endorsements for the restructuring of military treatment facilities (MTFs), including an endorsement by the Joint Chiefs chair that the restructuring won’t affect operational requirements.

Improved travel benefits. The NDAA reduced the distance threshold for the Tricare Prime Travel Benefit from 100 miles to 75 miles for active-duty members and families who must travel for specialty care.

Opened up military treatment facilities to veterans. The NDAA also directed the Pentagon to increase utilization of MTFs with excess capacity by cross-credentialing providers to jointly care for veterans in MTFs and VA facilities, a provision that connects directly to the VA’s own restructuring of its community care network. 

Allowed weight loss prescriptions. Tricare will now cover weight loss drugs for treating obesity when prescribed by a network provider and integrated into a comprehensive treatment plan.

Read More: A VA Clinic Gave Veterans GLP-1s for Weight Loss. A Year Later, Everything Improved

Faster credentialing of military providers. The Digital Oversight of Credentials for Service Members (DOCS) Act required centralized credentialing to speed up provider license verifications at MTFs.

What the Fiscal 2026 NDAA Did Not Change

The fiscal 2026 NDAA did not include:

Longer eligibility for dependents. The bipartisan Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act is still pending. It would extend Tricare dependent coverage to age 26 at no additional cost, aligning Tricare with standard civilian insurance. Premiums for Tricare Young Adult, which is for adult dependents up to age 21, or 23 if attending college, reached $794 per month for Prime and $363 for Select in 2026.

More IVF coverage. The final NDAA did not include a provision that would have given IVF coverage to all service members and families. Tricare will cover fertility treatments only in cases in which a service-connected injury or illness caused infertility.

The Civilian Hospital Problem

The Pentagon buys more than 65% of all care under Tricare from civilian providers, according to the White House’s fiscal 2026 budget request for the Military Health System. That dependence makes the financial health of civilian hospitals a direct military readiness concern. 

An analysis published in March by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that as many as 724,000 Tricare beneficiaries may rely on civilian hospitals that face financial vulnerability due to recently enacted Medicaid cuts. Hospitals that depend heavily on Medicaid reimbursements are at risk of reduced revenue and uncompensated care, which affects all patients, including military families insured through Tricare.

Read More: Tricare Providers Have Gone More Than a Year Without Payment. Now Some Are Getting Clawback Letters.

The Pentagon has acknowledged the problem in broad terms. A December 2023 memo directed the system to “reattract” at least 7% of care from the private sector back to MTFs by Dec. 31, 2026. But that goal depends on MTF capacity that has been declining for years as military medical billets were cut and care pushed outward to civilian networks. The fiscal 2026 NDAA’s 10-year halt on further billet cuts is designed to stop the bleeding, but it does not rebuild what was already lost.

A New Kind of Tricare Prime

As of Jan. 1, 2026, eligible Tricare beneficiaries in the Atlanta and Tampa metro areas can enroll in a new Tricare Prime option administered by CareSource Military and Veterans, a nonprofit managed-care organization. The three-year competitive plans demonstration, running through 2029, covers more than 146,000 eligible beneficiaries in the two cities, according to the Defense Health Agency. It is the first time the Pentagon has tested having an outside entity manage a portion of the Tricare Prime patient load alongside Humana Government Business, which holds the Tricare East Region contract.

Read More: Tricare Demo in Two Cities Lets Users See a Specialist Without a Referral

What Beneficiaries Should Do Now

If you live in the Atlanta or Tampa metro areas, the CareSource demonstration is live and accepting enrollment following qualifying life events. Compare the demo’s provider network against your current providers before switching. If you are a retiree or family member paying Tricare Prime enrollment fees, the first-year waiver under the demo is worth evaluating. For all beneficiaries:

• Review your 2026 Tricare costs at tricare.mil/Costs/Compare.
• Confirm that your DEERS enrollment is current.
• Check whether the NDAA’s specialty care travel benefit reduction to 75 miles affects you.

Tricare open enrollment typically runs from mid-November through mid-December for coverage effective Jan. 1.

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