CHAMPUS and Medical Savings Health Insurance Accounts

Part 2, Chapter 8: CHAMPUS and Medical Savings Accounts Page 1

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A variety of specialized programs have been established to meet health insurance needs in specific situations. For example, the federal government has developed a special health benefit program for families of armed forces personnel and for retired members of the armed forces. In addition, Medical Savings Accounts and high-deductible health insurance plans have recently been developed to provide a new approach to health insurance that includes the possibility of special tax benefits to individual participants.

CHAMPUS

CHAMPUS, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services, is a health benefit program established by the federal government for families of armed forces personnel and for retired members of the armed forces. At present, there are two CHAMPUS systems in operation. There's an older, traditional system -- now generally referred to either as CHAMPUS or as Tri-Care Standard -- and a new managed care system called Tri-Care Prime. The traditional system currently operates primarily in the northeast, while Tri-Care Prime operates in most other areas of the country.

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