TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) covers a broad range of medical services, including doctor visits, hospital stays, emergency care, maternity care, mental health treatment, prescriptions, and preventive services. It functions similarly to TRICARE Select, meaning you can see any TRICARE-authorized provider without needing a referral, and preventive care from network providers costs you nothing. Monthly premiums for 2025 are $53.80 for member-only coverage and $274.48 for member and family.
How TRICARE Reserve Select Works
TRS is a premium-based health plan available to qualified members of the National Guard and Reserve who are not on active duty. It works like a preferred provider organization (PPO): you pick your own doctors, schedule your own appointments, and don’t need referrals to see specialists. You can visit any TRICARE-authorized provider, whether in-network or out-of-network, though staying in-network keeps your costs lower.
The plan covers services that are medically necessary and considered proven treatments. Some services have special rules or limits, and a few things aren’t covered at all, but the core benefit package is comprehensive.
Premiums, Deductibles, and Out-of-Pocket Limits
For 2025, TRS premiums are:
- Member only: $53.80 per month
- Member and family: $274.48 per month
Annual deductibles depend on your pay grade. If you’re E-1 through E-4, you’ll pay $66 per individual or $132 per family before cost-sharing kicks in. For E-5 and above, it’s $198 per individual or $397 per family. Once your out-of-pocket costs hit the annual catastrophic cap of $1,324 per family, TRICARE picks up the rest for the remainder of the calendar year.
Preventive Care at No Cost
When you see a network provider, all covered preventive services cost $0. That includes annual physicals, well-child visits, cancer screenings, and immunizations. You don’t even need to meet your deductible first.
If you use a non-network provider, you still pay nothing for cancer screenings (breast, cervical, colorectal, and prostate), immunizations, and well-child visits for children under age 6. The office visit itself is also covered at $0 when a cancer screening or immunization is provided during that visit for beneficiaries ages 6 and older. However, any other preventive services from a non-network provider will cost you the standard non-network cost-share.
Maternity and Newborn Coverage
TRS covers all medically necessary prenatal care, including diagnostic tests like amniocentesis, fetal stress tests, electronic fetal monitoring, and ultrasounds used for clinical purposes such as estimating gestational age, evaluating fetal growth, or diagnosing complications. Ultrasounds solely to determine the baby’s sex or for routine screening without a clinical indication are not covered.
Labor and delivery services are covered, including anesthesia, fetal monitoring, and any care required during your hospital stay. Cesarean sections are covered when medically necessary. If you choose a C-section for personal reasons rather than medical ones, you may be responsible for some costs. Typical hospital stays run at least 48 hours after a vaginal delivery and 96 hours after a C-section, with longer stays covered when complications arise.
After delivery, TRICARE covers a minimum of two postpartum visits. If you had complications or your provider determines you need additional follow-up, more visits will be covered.
Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment
Outpatient psychotherapy is covered when it’s medically or psychologically necessary to treat a diagnosed mental health disorder. Individual sessions are covered for up to 60 minutes, with crisis sessions extending to 120 or even 180 minutes. Group therapy sessions are covered for up to 90 minutes. Psychological testing and assessments used to diagnose a condition and build a treatment plan are also covered.
Marriage counseling is only covered when it’s part of treating a diagnosed mental disorder, not for general relationship issues. Psychoanalysis is covered if your provider holds the correct certification and the treatment is pre-authorized.
For more intensive care, TRICARE covers inpatient psychiatric treatment, residential substance use disorder programs, psychiatric residential treatment centers for children and adolescents under 21, partial hospitalization programs, and intensive outpatient programs.
Pharmacy Benefits
TRS includes a full pharmacy benefit with different copay tiers depending on whether you use home delivery or a retail network pharmacy. Home delivery through TRICARE Pharmacy is often the better deal because you get a 90-day supply instead of 30 days at retail.
For 2026, copays break down as follows:
Home Delivery (90-Day Supply)
- Generic formulary: $14
- Brand-name formulary: $44
- Non-formulary: $85
Retail Network Pharmacy (30-Day Supply)
- Generic formulary: $16
- Brand-name formulary: $48
- Non-formulary: $85
Switching to generic drugs and using home delivery saves the most money. A 90-day generic supply through home delivery costs $14 total, while picking up the same drug monthly at retail would run $48 over three months.
Specialist and Hospital Care
One of the most practical features of TRS is that you don’t need a referral to see a specialist. You can schedule an appointment directly with any TRICARE-authorized provider, whether that’s a dermatologist, orthopedic surgeon, or cardiologist. Some services may still require prior authorization, but the plan doesn’t force you through a primary care gatekeeper first.
Inpatient hospital care, outpatient procedures, emergency room visits, and urgent care are all covered. You’ll pay cost-shares that vary based on whether you use a network or non-network provider, with network care always costing less.
What TRS Does Not Cover
Dental and vision care are the most notable gaps. TRS does not include routine dental coverage. Instead, Guard and Reserve members and their families can enroll separately in the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP), which requires its own monthly premium and a minimum 12-month enrollment commitment. Sponsors and family members enroll separately. Routine vision exams and eyeglasses are also not part of TRS and require separate coverage through the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP).
Cosmetic procedures, most experimental treatments, and services that aren’t considered medically necessary are also excluded from coverage.