TRICARE For Life and Medicare Part B: The Savant Wealth Management Checklist

Step 1: Gather the 4 papers that set the cost

Four documents settle most of the questions. Pull your Initial Enrollment Period dates from your my Social Security account. Check your DEERS record on milConnect to see that Medicare entitlement shows. Find the tax return from 2 years before the year you turn 65, because its MAGI sets any IRMAA. And if you're a federal retiree, locate the FEHB retiree enrollment notice from OPM.

Then do the arithmetic for a couple. At the 2026 standard premium, 2 × $202.90 × 12 = $4,869.60 a year. If joint MAGI 2 years back falls in the next tier (to $274,000), it's 2 × $284.10 × 12 = $6,818.40 a year. That's a $1,948.80 gap, set by one old tax return.

One rule changed recently. Since 2023, Part B starts the month after you enroll, both late in the Initial Enrollment Period and in the January to March General Enrollment Period, which used to start coverage on July 1. Plans made under the old rule assumed a longer TRICARE gap than you'd face today.

Step 2: Enroll in the 3 months before 65

Signing up in your birthday month or later is a timing mistake: Part B starts the month after, while TRICARE has already stopped. A hospital stay in that month falls outside TFL. Enroll in the 3 months before your 65th birthday month, and Part B and TFL start together.

Step 3: What happens if Part B starts late?

Starting Part B late adds 10% to the premium for life for each full 12 months you waited, and TRICARE For Life stops paying until Part B begins. Retiree FEHB doesn't count as current-employment coverage, so it won't stop that penalty.

A hypothetical household shows the cost. Troy, 66, a Marine Corps retiree with 18 years under FERS, already pays for Part B. His wife Olga, 63, a retired nurse, turns 65 in 2 years and assumes Troy's retiree FEHB lets her wait. They hold $900,000 across TSP and IRAs and 2 pensions. Figures use the 2026 premium, for illustration.

On time at 65, Olga pays $202.90 each month, which is $2,434.80 a year, and keeps TRICARE. If she waits 2 years, the penalty is 10% × 2 = 20%, so $40.58 more each month, $486.96 more each year, for life. If she waits 5 years, it's 50%, so $101.45 more each month, $1,217.40 more each year, for life. In both delays she also goes without TRICARE until Part B begins.

The comparison below shows that on-time enrollment costs the least and is the only option with no penalty and no gap.

The trade-off is simple. Part B costs $202.90 each month at the 2026 standard rate. You get TFL as second payer behind Medicare, which usually leaves little out of pocket for Medicare-covered care. Accept it in nearly every case. The exception is a sponsor still on active duty, whose family can delay Part B without losing TRICARE.

Quick test: if Part A has started and your sponsor isn't on active duty, Part B is worth buying. Also, a FERS retiree like Troy can suspend FEHB while covered by TRICARE, including TFL, and re-enroll later under OPM rules. Weigh that against the FEHB premium before you suspend it.

• Premium: $202.90 each month
• Penalty: 10% for each full 12 months
• Gap: months without TRICARE

Step 4: What happens if income jumps later?

A one-time IRA withdrawal, a home sale or RMDs at 75 for Olga (born after 1960) can push MAGI over an IRMAA tier 2 years later. The law and premiums change every year, so keep about $10,000 of room under the next tier.

Form SSA-44 asks Social Security for a lower IRMAA after events such as work stopping or a spouse's death. The tier strategy itself has its own page. This one covers enrollment and the Part B cost, not Part D, since TFL already includes pharmacy. Families of a sponsor on active duty follow a different rule.

What Savant Wealth Management checks first

Savant Wealth Management looks first at your Initial Enrollment Period dates against the TRICARE end date, then at the MAGI on the return from 2 years before 65 and at whether FEHB is still being paid. For a couple like Troy and Olga, the next item is the second spouse's 65th birthday month. All investing carries risk, and you can lose money, including what you put in.