TRICARE Hospice Benefits: 2026 Guide to End-of-Life Care | TRICARE.com

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## Quick answer TRICARE provides a comprehensive hospice benefit for terminally ill beneficiaries with a life expectancy of six months or less. This benefit shifts the focus from curative treatment to comfort-based palliative care, covering nursing services, medications, and medical supplies with no out-of-pocket costs for most beneficiaries.

Details

The TRICARE hospice benefit is modeled after the Medicare hospice program and is designed to provide dignity and pain management during the end-of-life process.

### Eligibility and Election To qualify for hospice care, a TRICARE-authorized physician must certify that the beneficiary has a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less if the disease runs its normal course. Once a beneficiary elects the hospice benefit, they waive their right to TRICARE benefits for curative treatment of the terminal condition. However, TRICARE continues to cover medical needs unrelated to the terminal illness.

### What is Covered Under the 2026 benefit structure, TRICARE covers: * **Physician Services:** Visits from the hospice medical director or attending physician. * **Nursing Care:** Intermittent nursing care provided by or under the supervision of a registered nurse. * **Medical Goods:** Durable medical equipment (DME), medical supplies, and appliances. * **Drugs:** Medications for pain relief and symptom management related to the terminal illness. * **Therapies:** Physical, occupational, and speech-language pathology services. * **Support Services:** Home health aide services, social worker services, and dietary counseling. * **Respite Care:** Short-term inpatient care (up to 5 consecutive days) to provide a break for the primary caregiver. * **Bereavement Counseling:** Support for the family after the beneficiary passes away.

### Costs and 2026 Rates For most beneficiaries, there is **no cost-share** for hospice care services. * **Active Duty Service Members (ADSMs):** $0 out-of-pocket. * **Retirees and Family Members:** Generally $0 for hospice services. * **Cost-Share Exceptions:** While the hospice services themselves are covered at 100%, small copayments may apply for certain drugs or for inpatient respite care, though these are rare and dictated by the 2026 TRICARE specific plan rules. Voluntary "room and board" at a hospice facility (when the patient does not meet the criteria for inpatient level care) is typically not covered by TRICARE.

### Providers and Regions Hospice care must be provided by a TRICARE-authorized hospice agency. * **East Region:** Managed by Humana Military. * **West Region:** Managed by TriWest Healthcare Alliance (as of the T-5 contract transition). * **Pharmacy:** While hospice agencies provide most meds, specific prescriptions may still flow through Express Scripts.

## Who this affects * **Active Duty Service Members:** Eligible with a physician's certification. * **Active Duty Family Members (ADFMs):** Eligible across all plans (Prime, Select). * **Retirees and their Families:** Includes those on TRICARE For Life (TFL), where TRICARE acts as second payer to Medicare. * **National Guard and Reserve:** Those on active duty orders or enrolled in TRICARE Reserve Select. * **Survivors:** Eligible family members of deceased service members.

## Sources * **TRICARE.mil:** Hospice Care Overview (https://www.tricare.mil/hospice) * **Humana Military (East):** Benefits and Palliative Care (https://www.humanamilitary.com) * **TriWest Healthcare Alliance (West):** Provider and Patient Resources (https://www.triwest.com) * **Express Scripts:** Pharmacy Benefits (https://militaryrx.express-scripts.com)