The short answer
Why Medicare and TRICARE For Life may cover skilled home health care and limited home health aide services for beneficiaries who qualify — and what they generally do not pay for at home.
A Guide for Military Spouses & Surviving Spouses
What TRICARE For Life Pays for at Home — and What It Doesn't
TRICARE For Life is excellent medical coverage. It is not long-term-care insurance.
Most families are told one of two wrong things: that Medicare covers nothing at home, or that it will send a caregiver. Neither is right. Here is the actual line, and where your family falls on it.
Colorado CareAssistTRICARE For Life & Home CareInside the guide
What this guide covers
Written for military spouses and surviving spouses rather than for the person who served. Every section answers a question families ask us.
Who can have it
Why an eligible military spouse, not only the person who served, can hold TRICARE For Life in their own right — and what a surviving spouse keeps.
Who qualifies for home health
The homebound and skilled-services test, and why needing help with daily activities is not the same as qualifying for the benefit.
How many hours
The combined limits that apply to skilled nursing and home health aide services, and why they are ceilings inside a definition rather than an allocation of hours.
Home health vs. private duty
A side-by-side comparison of a medical benefit and long-term support, and how a family can use both at once.
Start here & common questions
Four steps to begin, the wording that matters when you ask a provider a question, and the questions families ask us most.
Last reviewed:
The short answer
Where the line falls
Families who hear only the second half often stop asking, and miss a real benefit their parent qualifies for. Families who hear only the first half plan around caregiver hours that never arrive.
What TRICARE For Life is
- Medicare-wraparound coverage for people who are TRICARE-eligible, correctly listed in DEERS, and have both Medicare Part A and Part B.
- For a beneficiary getting care in the United States, Medicare is generally the primary payer, and TFL generally follows Medicare's rules for home health.
- One benefit, two payers. It is not a second allocation of aide hours.
What it generally doesn't cover
- TRICARE For Life is not long-term-care insurance.
- Ongoing 16-hour, 24-hour, or round-the-clock custodial care at home.
- Custodial care means ongoing help with activities of daily living rather than qualifying skilled medical care. TRICARE states it is generally excluded.
Verify it yourself
Official resources named in the guide
Program rules and figures change. Verify current benefits directly with Medicare and TRICARE For Life before relying on any number.
- Medicare — home health services
- TRICARE For Life
- TRICARE — covered services
- TRICARE For Life portal (WPS)
- DEERS & eligibility (milconnect)
This guide is for educational purposes and does not guarantee coverage or eligibility. Medicare and TRICARE coverage depends on the beneficiary's eligibility, medical needs, plan of care, provider participation, authorization requirements, and applicable program rules. Beneficiaries should verify current benefits directly with Medicare and TRICARE For Life. Sources: tricare.mil, tricare4u.com, medicare.gov. Program rules and dollar figures change — verify before relying on any number.
Talk with us
Not sure how this applies to your family?
We are a Colorado-licensed non-medical home care agency. We do not determine Medicare or TRICARE eligibility and we are not a benefits adviser. What we can tell you plainly: what our caregivers do, what they do not do, and how families usually pay for the hours Medicare does not cover.
Colorado CareAssist is the trade name of Hesed Home Care LLC, a Colorado-licensed Class B non-medical home care agency (Fac. ID 04Y296). Non-medical home care means we support activities of daily living; we do not provide skilled nursing or administer medication.