New Military Healthcare Pilot Program Makes Pregnancy a 'Qualifying Event' for TRICARE Select Enrollment

This new piece of legislation, titled the Improving Access to Prenatal Care for Military Families Act, cuts through some serious red tape for military spouses and dependents. It establishes a five-year pilot program that makes a significant change to how military families access healthcare: pregnancy itself will now be considered a “qualifying event” to enroll in TRICARE Select.

The TRICARE Enrollment Headache, Solved (Temporarily)

For those unfamiliar with military healthcare, TRICARE enrollment usually happens during specific open seasons or after a major life change, like marriage or a move—a “qualifying event.” If you missed the window, you were generally stuck with your current plan until the next enrollment period. This bill recognizes that finding out you’re expecting is absolutely a major life change that requires immediate, often specialized, care.

Under Section 2, the Secretary of Defense has 180 days to launch this five-year program. The key takeaway is that if you are an eligible beneficiary (a military spouse or dependent) and become pregnant, you can immediately switch to TRICARE Select—a popular fee-for-service option—outside of the usual enrollment periods. Think of it like this: If you’re currently in a plan that requires referrals or has limited provider networks, and you find out you need specialist prenatal care right away, this provision allows you to switch to a more flexible plan without waiting.

What This Means for Military Families on the Move

This change is huge for military families who often face frequent moves and changes in network providers. For a military spouse who just PCS’d (Permanent Change of Station) and is now pregnant, navigating new healthcare systems is stressful enough. This bill provides an immediate, clear pathway to ensure access to necessary prenatal care without the bureaucratic delay of waiting for the next open season or trying to manage care through a less flexible plan.

To ensure this pilot program works and Congress can track its effectiveness, the Department of Defense is required to submit detailed annual reports for five years, starting one year after implementation. These reports must break down all enrollment changes by month, specifically tracking how many people switched to TRICARE Select because of this new “pregnancy as a qualifying event” rule. This mandatory reporting provides necessary oversight, ensuring the program is actually serving the families it’s intended to help, and will inform whether this change becomes a permanent fixture in military healthcare.