“I left SEALs on Friday,” he said the next time I saw him. It was a little more than thirty-six months before the official retirement requirement of twenty years of service. “My health care for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go [f–k] yourself.”
As the Esquire story explains, Tricare (the health insurance program that covers military service members and their families) does provide 180 days of transitional health insurance “ but the Shooter is eligible only if he agrees to remain on active duty “in a support role,” or become a reservist.”
Now, the Shooter is purchasing a private health insurance plan for $486 per month, which does not cover some of his treatments (chiropractic care, for example, costs $120 weekly, Esquire reports).
There are lots of military veterans who lose coverage, and don’t buy their own plan.
MORE: Navy SEAL lost health insurance after killing Osama bin Laden.