Health coverage after military separation is a sequencing problem, and nobody in the out-processing line explains the order. TRICARE stops at 11:59 p.m. on the last duty day. The 180 premium-free days of TAMP (the Transitional Assistance Management Program) go only to involuntary separations, Guard and Reserve contingency releases after more than 30 days, Title 32 disaster releases, stop-loss, sole-survivor discharges, and members who join the Selected Reserve; a voluntary end-of-contract separation gets nothing. CHCBP (the Continued Health Care Benefit Program) continues TRICARE-style coverage for up to 18 months, but only if elected within 60 days. VA health care enrolls the veteran alone, never the spouse or children. The marketplace opens a 60-day window; a spouse's employer plan opens only 30. This planner takes your separation type, household, rating, and next step, lays every program on a 24-month timeline with each uninsured day in red, prices each path, and orders the deadlines so nobody in your house goes a day without coverage.
How are you leaving?
How this tool works
Eligibility first, then the timeline. Your separation type sets TAMP: the 180-day transitional benefit in 10 U.S.C. 1145 covers involuntary separation under honorable conditions (including VSI/VSP recipients who cannot draw retired pay), Guard or Reserve members released from more than 30 consecutive days of active duty for a contingency or preplanned mission, National Guard released from Title 32 disaster or emergency duty, stop-loss or a voluntary contingency extension of under a year, sole survivorship discharge, and active-duty members who agree to join the Selected Reserve. Voluntary separations and retirements are not on the list (retirees keep TRICARE as retirees if they enroll within 90 days). Your rating and combat or toxic-exposure status set VA enrollment: any compensable rating enrolls you (10% and above removes inpatient and outpatient copays; 50% and above, Priority Group 1, removes medication copays too; a 0% noncompensable rating is income-tested like no rating); combat service after November 11, 1998 with a discharge on or after October 1, 2013 gives 10 years of enhanced eligibility in Priority Group 6, and PACT Act exposure enrolls you directly with no window; a veteran with neither is income-tested against the 2026 national limit and is closed out of Priority Group 8 more than 10% above it. A 100% Permanent and Total rating adds CHAMPVA for the spouse and children unless the household is TRICARE-eligible. Each path is then drawn day by day for 24 months from the separation date, one row for you and one for the family, with any uninsured day shown in red.
How each path is priced. Each path is drawn with the real effective-date rules: CHCBP is effective the day TRICARE ends and is sold in 90-day blocks; a marketplace plan or a spouse's group plan starts on the first of the month after coverage ends, so a mid-month separation leaves a gap that a month-end separation date erases; an employer plan starts after its waiting period; FEHB starts the first pay period after election; a student health plan starts with the term; Medicaid has no window and can be retroactive. The 12-month household cost is premiums for each segment plus a cost-share estimate. Premiums: TAMP and TRICARE at $0; CHCBP at $2,103 or $5,339 per quarter; TRICARE Reserve Select, Retired Reserve, and retiree Select and Prime at published 2026 rates; a spouse's or new employer's plan at the KFF 2025 average worker contribution unless you enter your own; the marketplace at your quote, or an estimate built from your state's 2026 benchmark silver premium (KFF) scaled by the federal age curve for each person on the plan (only the three oldest children are charged; New York and Vermont do not rate by age), less a premium tax credit from your income against the 2026 IRS schedule, since the enhanced credits expired at the end of 2025. The cost share is the household's expected allowed charges for the year at your chosen usage level, run through each plan's deductible, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximum, and spread across the segments in proportion to their days; an uninsured segment pays 100% with no cap. A pregnancy adds an assumed delivery; ongoing treatment raises the baseline. The cheapest path with zero uninsured days is the recommendation; if none exists, the cheapest overall is shown with the gap called out.
What we model and don't. We model the deadlines that cost families money: the CHCBP 60-day election (30 days after losing TRICARE Reserve Select), the marketplace 60-day special enrollment (which also opens 60 days before the loss), the 30-day HIPAA special enrollment on a spouse's group plan, the ACA 90-day cap on employer waiting periods, the FEHB 60-day election, the retiree's 90-day TRICARE enrollment window, FEDVIP's window from 31 days before to 60 days after retirement, the VA one-time dental treatment inside 180 days of discharge, the 10-year combat-veteran enrollment window, and the BDD pre-discharge claim window. With your state and income we also check Medicaid and CHIP against each state's published limits (expansion status, parent and childless-adult limits, the children's limit, and the pregnancy limit, from the latest KFF and Medicaid.gov tables) and add Medicaid as a $0 path when the household qualifies. We don't model plan networks, VA copay dollar amounts for lower priority groups, TRICARE Prime service areas, tobacco surcharges, or dental and vision premiums. All rates are as published for 2026 where available and are marked in the results where verification is pending. This is an educational estimate, not enrollment advice; the program administrator's determination controls. Data stamp: September 3, 2026.