TRICARE West Region Deadline April 30, 2026: Pay TriWest Now or Lose Coverage May 1

If you live in one of the 26 West Region states and pay TRICARE enrollment fees or premiums, you have roughly a week to act. TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which took over as the West Region contractor at the start of 2025, needs your current payment information on file by Wednesday, April 30, 2026. If TriWest can't draft or charge you by then, you and your family are disenrolled on May 1. Not disenrolled going forward. Disenrolled retroactive to your last paid-through date, which for a lot of people is January 1.

The contractor transition has been messy. In May 2025, Military Times reported thousands of West Region beneficiaries had been booted after the switch from Health Net to TriWest, mostly because old payment information never migrated. TriWest extended the payment deadline several times. The April 30, 2026 deadline is the latest version of that extension, and the DHA and TRICARE Newsroom have been clear that further extensions are not expected.

Why This Deadline Exists

On January 1, 2025, TRICARE's West Region got a new contractor. Health Net Federal Services, which had managed the region for years, lost the contract. TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that already managed the VA's Community Care network, took over. That's a massive transition: about 4.6 million beneficiaries in 26 states, every enrollment record, every recurring payment, every referral, all migrating systems.

It did not go smoothly. Here's what happened:

• Many beneficiaries' payment information did not transfer automatically. Old HNFS records with bank routing numbers or credit cards did not all migrate to TriWest's systems.
• Some beneficiaries were told to re-enter payment info; others were told the transfer would be automatic. Neither was consistent.
• By May 2025, thousands had been disenrolled for non-payment, most without realizing anything was wrong until they tried to use their coverage.
• Every few months since, TriWest has extended the payment deadline and reinstatement window. We're now on the second or third version, depending on how you count.

The April 30, 2026 version is not another gentle nudge. The Defense Health Agency has been explicit that beneficiaries who haven't provided payment info by then will be disenrolled, and that reinstatement closes on June 30, 2026. After that, you're waiting for a Qualifying Life Event or the next Open Season to get back in.

Do I Need to Act? (The 26-State List)

You need to act if both of these are true:

1. You live in a West Region state, and
2. You pay TRICARE enrollment fees or premiums (not everyone does).

The 26 West Region states

Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

If your state isn't listed, you're in the East Region and this deadline doesn't apply to you. Humana Military, not TriWest, handles your account.

Who actually pays TRICARE fees

What You're Actually Paying (2026 Fees)

Fees depend on your group (based on when you or the sponsor first entered service) and your plan. Group A is anyone who entered service before January 1, 2018. Group B is anyone who entered on or after that date. Group B fees are slightly higher across the board.

Retiree annual enrollment fees, 2026

These are annual totals. Most retirees pay monthly (so Prime family Group A is roughly $63.75/month), though TriWest also lets you pay quarterly or annually. Monthly is the default. The 2026 rates are up about 2% to 3% from 2025, which is a smaller bump than the 15%+ increases on some pharmacy copays this year.

Monthly premium plans

TRS, TRR, and TYA are premium plans, not enrollment-fee plans. Their rates don't fit neatly in the table above, but they are all affected by the same TriWest deadline. 2026 monthly premiums:

• TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS): $57.19 member-only, $258.88 member and family.
• TRICARE Retired Reserve (TRR): $570.72 member-only, $1,383.49 member and family.
• TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) Prime: $720.51/month.
• TRICARE Young Adult (TYA) Select: $352.27/month.

If any of these charges stopped hitting your card or bank account in 2025 or 2026 and you haven't noticed, you're almost certainly in the group that needs to act.

How to Pay TriWest (4 Ways)

TriWest gives you four ways to submit payment. The online portal is fastest, the phone line is best if you don't have portal access or want to talk to a human, and the paper form is a fallback. Pick whatever you'll actually do.

Option 1: Online portal (fastest)

1. Go to tricare.triwest.com.
2. Log in using your primary email address on file with DEERS. If you're not sure which email is on file, check milConnect at milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil and update DEERS first if needed.
3. Select the beneficiary whose payment needs to be set up.
4. Choose your payment method: bank account (ACH) or credit/debit card (VISA, Mastercard, or Discover).
5. Pick a frequency: monthly, quarterly, or annual.
6. Submit. You'll get a confirmation email. Save it.

Option 2: Phone (888-TRIWEST)

Call 888-TRIWEST (888-874-9378). The automated system can take a one-time enrollment payment, and a live rep can help you set up recurring payments, change a card number, or confirm your status. Wait times have been longer than usual as the deadline approaches. Call in the morning (8 a.m. local) for the shortest hold.

Option 3: Mail a payment form

TriWest publishes two recurring payment forms. Fill out the one for your situation and mail it to the address on the form:

• Prime / Select / TRS / TRR recurring credit card or EFT form.
• TRICARE Young Adult recurring credit card or EFT form.

The forms are on tricare.triwest.com under Beneficiary Forms. Mail your form early. If it arrives after April 30, you're still disenrolled even if you mailed it before. Portal or phone is safer at this point in the month.

Option 4: MilConnect (enrollment changes only)

MilConnect can be used for enrollment changes, but it does not process TriWest payments. If you need to switch from Prime to Select, add a dependent, or change regions, use milConnect. For the actual payment, you still need the portal, phone, or mail.

What Happens If You Miss April 30

On May 1, 2026, TriWest disenrolls you and your enrolled family members from your TRICARE plan. That part is straightforward. The retroactive piece is what catches people off guard.

Disenrollment is retroactive to your paid-through date. That's the last date your most recent successful payment covered you through. If your last payment covered you through March 31, your disenrollment is effective April 1. If you've paid nothing in 2026 (because TriWest never had your new payment info after the HNFS transition), your disenrollment is retroactive to January 1, 2026.

What retroactive disenrollment actually costs

Any care you or a family member received during the retroactive period, whether that's one visit or dozens, is treated as if you had no TRICARE coverage when it happened. You owe the full billed rate. Not the TRICARE-negotiated rate. The full billed rate. That can mean:

• Routine primary care visit: $150 to $350 out of pocket instead of a $26 Prime copay.
• Specialist visit: $300 to $600 instead of a $41 Prime copay.
• ER visit: $1,500 to $4,000+ instead of $108.
• Any surgery, imaging, or hospital stay during 2026: tens of thousands of dollars at billed rates.
• Prescriptions filled in 2026: you may be billed back for the TRICARE-paid portion.

When you find out

Disenrolled beneficiaries typically find out one of three ways:

1. A letter from TriWest in early May (slowest).
2. A denied claim or bill from a provider showing you weren't covered for a recent visit (moderately fast).
3. Trying to get a prescription or schedule an appointment and being told you're not enrolled (fastest).

If any of the above happens to you, move directly to the reinstatement steps below. Every day matters because the June 30 cutoff is firm.

How to Reinstate Before June 30

If you missed April 30 or discover you were already disenrolled before that, you have one reinstatement window: May 1 through June 30, 2026. Here's how to use it.

Step 1: Call 888-TRIWEST immediately

Call 888-TRIWEST (874-9378). Tell the rep: "I've been disenrolled from TRICARE and I'd like to reinstate." They'll look up your record and confirm your paid-through date.

Step 2: Provide current payment information

Give TriWest a working bank account or credit card. They'll set up your recurring payment going forward so you're not in this situation again.

Step 3: Pay all overdue fees back to January 1

This is the expensive part. TriWest will calculate what you owe from your paid-through date (often January 1) through the current month. For a Group A Prime family, that's four months at about $63.75/month, or roughly $255 due at once. For TRR member-and-family, four months at $1,383.49 is about $5,534 due at once.

You can usually pay this as a lump sum by credit card on the phone. Some beneficiaries have reported TriWest will work with you on a short payment plan, but don't count on it.

Step 4: Verify coverage was reinstated

Within a few business days, log into milConnect or call TriWest back. Confirm your plan shows as active and your effective date matches what you paid. Screenshot or save the confirmation.

What If You Miss Both Deadlines?

If June 30, 2026 passes without reinstatement, you lose TRICARE medical coverage. You cannot just call back on July 1 and enroll. TRICARE's enrollment rules require one of two triggers:

• Qualifying Life Event (QLE). Birth of a child, marriage, divorce, move to a new region, retirement, separation, gaining or losing other health coverage. A QLE opens a 90-day window to enroll.
• TRICARE Open Season. Runs mid-November to mid-December each year, with coverage starting January 1. For anyone disenrolled this spring, that means going without TRICARE from July 1 through December 31 and re-enrolling for 2027.

If you're healthy, young, and have other coverage (spouse's employer plan, for example), that might be survivable. For retirees with chronic conditions or family members mid-treatment, it's a significant problem. Six months without coverage can mean $50,000+ in self-paid care.

What about VA care?

If you have service-connected disabilities rated 0% or higher, you're eligible for VA healthcare as a separate track. VA care is free for service-connected conditions and low-cost for non-service-connected conditions depending on your priority group. It's not a full substitute for TRICARE (family members aren't covered at VA), but for the retiree personally it's a real backup. See our 2026 VA healthcare guide for current wait time data and how to get enrolled.

The Referral Waiver Bonus (Extended Through June 30)

One piece of good news from the same TriWest announcement: the Referral Approval Waiver has been extended through June 30, 2026. If you're a TRICARE Prime beneficiary in the West Region and enrolled, you can see any in-network specialist without getting TriWest's prior authorization first, through the end of June.

Normally, Prime requires a referral from your primary care manager that TriWest then approves before you can see a specialist. During the transition period, TriWest has been slow on those approvals, so DHA waived the requirement. Practical effects:

• Your PCM can still refer you, but TriWest won't hold up the visit waiting for approval.
• You can go straight to a network specialist (cardiology, orthopedics, dermatology, etc.) if you have a current Prime enrollment.
• Still pay your normal Prime copays at the visit. The waiver is about approval, not cost.
• Out-of-network care still requires authorization. You can't use the waiver to self-refer to a non-network provider.
• Active duty service members are not included in this waiver. They still need the standard referral process.

This is unrelated to the April 30 payment deadline. You only benefit from the waiver if you're actually enrolled, which is why paying TriWest on time matters twice over: you keep your coverage and keep access to this specialist shortcut through June.

Action Checklist Before April 30

Work through this in the next week and you're done. Most of it takes under 30 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

I'm active duty. Does this deadline affect me?

No. Active duty service members don't pay TRICARE enrollment fees. Your active duty family members on Prime or Select also don't pay fees. The April 30 deadline is about fees and premiums, so only retirees (and Reserve/National Guard members on TRS or TRR) are affected.

I already pay TRICARE via monthly allotment from my retired pay. Am I affected?

Most likely no, but verify. Retirees who set up their TRICARE premiums as a monthly allotment from DFAS retirement pay are still paying. The April 30 deadline targets beneficiaries whose credit card or bank ACH payment did not transfer correctly to TriWest. Log into milConnect and check if your TRICARE status shows "Enrolled" with a current paid-through date. If yes, you're fine.

I'm on TRICARE For Life. Do I need to do anything?

No. TFL has no enrollment fees. Your only ongoing cost is Medicare Part B, which you pay directly to Medicare, not TriWest. The April 30 deadline doesn't apply to you.

I moved from an East Region state to a West Region state in 2025. Am I with TriWest now?

Yes, you should be. A move to a new region is a Qualifying Life Event that transfers your TRICARE enrollment to the new regional contractor. But the transfer does not automatically move your payment information. If you haven't set up a payment method with TriWest since you moved, you're at high risk of being disenrolled on May 1. Call 888-TRIWEST today.

What if I dispute the bill for care received during the retroactive period?

If you reinstate coverage by June 30, 2026, TRICARE should retroactively cover claims from your paid-through date forward. If a provider billed you at non-TRICARE rates during the gap, contact them with a copy of your reinstatement letter and ask them to refile with TriWest. Most network providers will. If they've already sent you to collections, call TriWest's Beneficiary Services line and ask for a letter of reinstatement you can send to the provider and collection agency.

Will TRICARE extend the deadline again?

DHA has been clear that further extensions are not expected. The April 30 deadline is itself an extension from earlier dates in 2025. Assume this is the final one, pay now, and move on. If an extension does get announced, you've lost nothing by paying early.

Does the April 30 deadline apply to East Region beneficiaries?

No. The East Region is managed by Humana Military and has no similar transition crisis. If your state is not on the 26-state West list above, this article does not apply to you. Humana Military's normal payment processes are in effect as usual.

Use the Calculator to Plan Around This

TRICARE is one of the biggest post-retirement healthcare savings for military retirees, often worth $10,000 to $20,000 per year compared to civilian marketplace plans. Losing it for six months, even temporarily, can blow up a post-retirement budget. Use our calculator to model how TRICARE fits into your total retirement picture alongside your pension, VA disability, and civilian income.