This bill lowers the distance threshold for TRICARE travel reimbursement for specialty care from 100 miles to 50 miles for military retirees and their dependents.
Gabriel (Gabe) Vasquez
Representative
NM-2
The TRICARE Travel Improvement Act lowers the distance requirement for military families to receive reimbursement for travel expenses when seeking specialty medical care. This bill mandates that the Department of Defense must now cover travel costs if a specialist is more than 50 miles away, down from the previous 100-mile threshold. This updated reimbursement rule specifically applies to military retirees and their dependents.
TRICARE Bill Lowers Travel Reimbursement Threshold to 50 Miles, Cutting Benefits for Military Retirees
The aptly named “TRICARE Travel Improvement Act” is on the table, and while the title sounds promising, the actual text tells a different story, especially for military retirees and their families. This bill tweaks the rules for when the Department of Defense (DoD) has to pay back travel costs for specialty medical care under TRICARE.
The New Math: 100 Miles Shrinks to 50
Previously, if you were a TRICARE beneficiary and had to drive 100 miles or more one way to see a specialist—say, a pediatric cardiologist or an oncology expert—the DoD was required to reimburse those travel expenses. This was meant to ensure that people in rural areas or those near smaller military bases could still access necessary specialized care without breaking the bank on gas and lodging. This bill changes that requirement. Under Section 2, the threshold for mandatory reimbursement is being lowered from 100 miles to 50 miles, but not in the way you might think.
Specialty Care Just Got More Expensive for Retirees
Here’s where the fine print hits the hardest: The bill specifically targets military retirees and their dependents. For this group, the Secretary of Defense must administer the travel reimbursement rule using 50 miles as the cutoff point. This means that if a retiree needs to see a specialist who is 55 miles away, they are now not eligible for mandatory travel reimbursement, even though they would have been under the old 100-mile rule. They now have to travel 50 miles further than before to qualify for the benefit.
Think about a retired Master Sergeant living 75 miles from the nearest specialty clinic. Under the old rules, that travel was covered. Under this new rule, that 150-mile round trip is now entirely out-of-pocket. This change effectively removes a financial safety net for retirees seeking essential, specialized medical treatment located in the 50-to-99-mile range. While the bill is called an “improvement,” for this population, it looks more like a direct reduction in benefits, creating a new economic barrier to accessing necessary healthcare.