What Are the Tricare Rules for Getting Your Tubes Tied?

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The Senate Armed Services Committee approved an authorization bill for the military that includes the Biden administration's requested 2.7% pay raise for the military, and increases leave benefits for all new parents. (Jason Bortz /U.S. Navy)

Will Tricare pay for me to get my tubes tied? We are done having kids, and I don't want to take any chances.

Are there rules about how old you have to be or anything like that?

Along with other birth control options, Tricare covers tubal ligations and vasectomies.

If the procedure is available at your nearest Military Treatment Facility (MTF), you can get it done there. If you are seen by a civilian doctor, your primary care physician can help you figure out where you need to go.

Tricare doesn't have any rules as to who can and cannot get their tubes tied. As long as you are covered by Tricare, it will cover the procedure.

However, just as with vasectomies, providers or any given MTF may have their own rules or guidelines on who they will recommend for the procedure and who they will not.

Any "rule" that you've heard about is not actually a Tricare rule. If you get a "no" from one doctor and are sure you want the procedure, get help from a different provider.

There is one thing Tricare won't pay for when it comes to tubal ligations or vasectomies -- and that's a reversal, unless there is a specific "medical necessity."

While some MTFs will allow you to get the procedure reversed, that's not a Tricare policy.

In those instances, the MTF is footing the bill, not Tricare. If you ask Tricare to cover it without a medical reason, it will say "no." 

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