The Defense Department is changing how it determines eligibility for transitional health care benefits for reserve component service members who are separating from active duty.
In an Aug. 10 memo shared with Federal News Network, Anthony Tata, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said reservists no longer need to demonstrate that their period of active duty service was “substantively connected in some way to a war, a contingency operation or a national emergency” to qualify for the Transitional Assistance Management Program, or TAMP, which offers TRICARE coverage to certain service members and their dependents.
The change follows a class action lawsuit brought by National Guard and Reserve service members who allege that the Pentagon unlawfully conditioned eligibility for TAMP based on criteria not authorized by law.
TAMP provides eligible service members and their families with 180 days of premium-free medical and dental coverage after their active-duty orders end. The program is intended to help troops maintain their health care coverage as they transition back to civilian life.
The lawsuit challenges a DoD policy that requires reserve component troops’ active duty orders to be coded in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, as being “in support of a contingency operation” to qualify for TAMP.
The lead plaintiff, Navy Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Gontarz, argues that Congress intended TAMP to cover reserve component service members who serve more than 30 days during a national emergency, regardless of the type of active duty they perform. The United States has been in a constant state of national emergency since 1979.
Gontarz, who served nearly four years on active-duty orders, was notified by the Defense Health Agency that he was disenrolled from TRICARE one month after separating from active duty, because “DHA’s records indicated that he was no longer eligible for TRICARE as determined by information in DEERS.” He later contacted Navy Reserve officials about TAMP and was told that “normally Active Duty for Special Work/Active Duty for Operational Support and Active Duty for Training orders” do not qualify, according to the lawsuit.
“This case arises because the Department of Defense has implemented and enforced a contrary, extra-statutory policy that denies TAMP to otherwise eligible service members based on an internal administrative coding requirement,” the lawsuit states. “That requirement does not appear in the statute.”
The new Pentagon policy appears to address the central issue raised in the lawsuit.
“The assistant secretary of defense and reserve affairs will ensure coding in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System is adjusted to implement this change to TAMP eligibility,” Tata said in the memo.
In addition, troops who were denied TAMP benefits on or after April 24, 2020, can seek reimbursement for health care-related costs, including premiums and out-of-pocket expenses they incurred as a result.
The April 24, 2020, retroactive date goes back exactly six years from when the lawsuit was filed. The case was brought under the Administrative Procedure Act, which has a six-year statute of limitations.
Service members can request reimbursement through the Defense Health Agency.
“We’re thrilled to see this change in policy. It’s what we were asking for,” Rochelle Bobroff, director of Lawyers Serving Warriors, a pro bono program of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, told Federal News Network.
Bobroff said they agreed to pause the case for 60 days while they assess whether the new policy fully addresses their claims, but they have not yet agreed to dismiss the case.
“They are clearly looking for us to dismiss the litigation. We have not yet made a final decision. We will be reviewing it further to see whether there is anything else we feel needs to be done, and this is likely to be at least a large step towards resolving the suit,” Bobroff said. “We are hoping to learn more about the process. We have a call set up with the government next week, and we will be asking and seeing if they can provide us with some more information.”
The new policy could impact thousands of current and former National Guard and Reserve members and their families — more than 160,000 reserve component members were authorized to serve on active duty for operational support and in support of the reserve components in fiscal 2026 alone.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.
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