United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter 

 

Number: 06- 207 Date: December 12, 2006 

Subject: Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program: Loss of TRICARE 

Reserve Select for Selected Reserve Members Eligible for FEHB Enrollment

BACKGROUND 

The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for 2007 (P.L. 109-364), signed by 

President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006, excludes individuals eligible for health insurance 

under the FEHB Program from coverage under TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS). Therefore, 

Selected Reserve members who are eligible for FEHB will lose their TRS coverage when this 

provision of the law takes effect not later than October 1, 2007. 

PURPOSE 

We expect that employees and annuitants who will lose their TRS because of this legislation will 

contact you to request that you either reinstate their previously terminated FEHB or allow them to 

enroll in FEHB. This letter explains how to honor those requests. 

REINSTATEMENT OF FEHB 

Employees and annuitants whose FEHB terminated during active duty, and completed a Waiver 

of Immediate Reinstatement of FEHB because they had Transitional TRICARE and /or TRS, may 

ask you to reinstate their FEHB effective the day after their TRS coverage ends. (See BAL 05-402 

and BAL 05-411.) To reinstate coverage, employees or annuitants must first revoke their waiver 

by signing and dating the revocation request at the bottom of the waiver. You must then complete 

Standard Form (SF) 2810 to notify the enrollee, payroll office, and insurance carrier of the 

reinstatement. 

Once coverage has been reinstated under the enrollee’s former enrollment code, the enrollee has 

an opportunity to make an enrollment change. The loss of TRS coverage is a Qualifying Life 

Event (QLE) that permits employees and annuitants to change their reinstated FEHB enrollment 

from 31 days before to 60 days after the date TRS ends. The QLE code on SF 2809 is 1M for 

employees and 2G for annuitants. 

NEW ENROLLMENTS 

Employees who do not qualify for reinstatement of their FEHB and who provide written 
verification from TRICARE showing the ending date of their TRS coverage, have an opportunity 

to enroll because of the loss of their TRS. The QLE code on SF 2809 is 1M and employees must 

enroll from 31 days before to 60 days after the date TRS ends. 

TRANSITIONAL TRICARE REMAINS THE SAME 

This new legislation will affect only those who would have been eligible for TRS when their 

transitional TRICARE ends. Thus the guidance in BAL 05-402 concerning delayed reinstatement 

of FEHB to use Transitional TRICARE remains the same. 

CONCLUSION

Please assist your employees or annuitants in avoiding any breaks in health insurance 

coverage between the end of their TRS coverage and the beginning of their FEHB benefits. 

If you have further questions about the FEHB Program or TRS, please contact Ronald Brown at 

202.606.0004 or by e-mail at Ronald.Brown@OPM.gov. As we develop questions and answers 

about this topic, we will add them to the Frequently Asked Questions section on our FEHB 

webpage at www.opm.gov/insure/health. 

 Sincerely, 

Robert F. Danbeck 

Associate Director 

for Human Resources Products and Services