... but just heard that merely having the option for the costly Retired Reserve program means that we won't qualify for any ACA subsidies.
Does anyone else have any experience with this, and is there a workaround? If true, this would set back our target date a while as we weren't expecting to have to shell out near that much for health care. @Nords your book was supremely informative, but I don't remember reading about this in there -- any insight would be appreciated!
Thank you, I'm glad the book was helpful in other areas!
As far as health insurance goes, no, as far as I can tell you're still eligible to claim any ACA subsidies for which anyone else in your financial situation would normally qualify.
I spend most of my research time trying to debunk "I've heard that", "I've been told that", and other scuttlebutt. Without a credible link or some other reference, it's impossible to prove a negative. If you've been told something, well, it's really hard to figure out whether we've missed a new press release on a major program change, or whether it's simply that the speaker didn't explain the issue correctly.
There's been a lot of discussion in Congress and the IRS about "eligibility" versus actually having the coverage. For example, take a look at page 7 of this PDF from the Congressional Research Service, which links to the source:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41198.pdf"Is a Person Who Is Eligible for VA Health Care or TRICARE, but Is Not Enrolled in Either Program, Eligible for the Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit?
A veteran (or certain beneficiaries) who is eligible for health care provided through the VA, but not actually enrolled in the VA health care system, may be eligible for premium tax credits (as long as they meet income and other requirements for obtaining the credit). Similarly, TRICARE beneficiaries not actually enrolled in certain TRICARE programs may be eligible for the premium tax credit.
[...]
TRICARE beneficiaries who are eligible for, but not enrolled in, the Continued Health Care Benefit Program, TRICARE Retired Reserve, TRICARE Young Adult, and TRICARE Reserve Select programs may be eligible for the premium tax credit. Individuals who are enrolled in these programs are not eligible."
And from a research arm of an insurance company:
https://www.transamericacenterforhealthstudies.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/tchs_veterans-graphic-layout_r7_081814.pdf?sfvrsn=4"Veterans enrolled in VA care or TRICARE are not eligible for subsidies on Marketplace plans."
This implies that if you're not actually enrolled in (and paying for) TRR then you're eligible to enroll in (and be subsidized by) an ACA exchange policy.
The best way to confirm this information is to talk with Tricare directly (admittedly they're not very good at phone service) and to seek a reference from the call center or (as SeattleCyclone mentions) their website. You might be able to accomplish the same from a Tricare ombudsman at a military hospital or a large military clinic. You may even be able to do it from a Veteran Service Officer in your local VA clinic.