Military dependents in their early 20s will face health insurance premiums as high as $900 per month starting Jan. 1.
The Defense Health Agency quietly rolled out next year’s premiums for TRICARE Young Adult plans in the insurance program’s latest operations manual. Those plans are designed for military dependents between ages 21 and 26 — once they’re no longer eligible to stay on a sponsor’s plan but haven’t yet aged out of TRICARE.
TRICARE gives them two options: Young Adult Select, which offers a higher deductible (up to $198 in 2026) with more flexibility to choose providers, for $394 per month; or Young Adult Prime, which typically has no deductible but requires specialist referrals, for $893 each month. That’s an 8.5% increase for Select members and a 12.5% bump for Prime members over last year’s premiums.
The new rates mean enrollees will dole out about $4,700 for Select or more than $10,700 for Prime over the course of the year, not including the additional costs of the care they receive.
In comparison, enrollment in either TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select is free for active-duty families. Employer‑sponsored plan premiums in 2025 averaged $9,325 per year for one person and $26,993 for a family, according to KFF.
Prime’s monthly price tag is “beyond the reach of most young adults and a financial burden on their families,” Eileen Huck, the director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, told Federal News Network Wednesday.
Prime premiums have spiked over the past decade, while Select premiums have risen more gradually. Select’s monthly installments haven’t quite doubled, growing from $228 in 2016 to $394 in 2027. Prime’s have nearly tripled from $306 to $893 in that same time.
“Unlike other plans, TRICARE Young Adult beneficiaries must absorb the full cost of the plan,” Huck said. “There’s no government subsidy, and so we’ve seen the cost of that plan increase significantly.”
It’s unclear what’s causing Young Adult Prime’s premiums to snowball. The Defense Health Agency did not immediately respond to emailed questions Wednesday, and Huck’s group said the agency hasn’t adequately answered queries on the data behind the cost increases.
“Families facing higher premiums deserve a clear explanation of what’s driving them,” NMFA wrote in a release Wednesday.
NMFA notes the price hike could force dependents to look at other insurance options, like a parent’s employer-sponsored plan, an Affordable Care Act-compliant plan through federal and state insurance marketplaces or Medicaid.
The group is pushing Congress to pass a law allowing military dependents to automatically stay on a sponsor’s TRICARE plan until age 26, to mirror the limit set for commercial plans under the Affordable Care Act. But growing the number of people who are eligible for a heavily subsidized TRICARE plan would also increase the price of running the federal program.
“There is bipartisan legislation in both the House and Senate to make that change,” Huck said, “but it comes with a cost, and we haven’t been able to find a way to overcome that.”
TRICARE’s open enrollment season, when members can pick a new plan for the upcoming year, runs from Nov. 9 to Dec. 8. Coverage begins Jan. 1.
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