Commander’s Action Line: Ambulance service Published Oct. 2, 2009 72nd Air Base Wing TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Q:I received a postcard from The City Of Oklahoma City about Total Care Ambulance Service. They are going to begin charging $3.65 per month for EMSA unless you opt out by Sept. 30. I have called TRICARE and they stated ambulance service is covered for TRICARE beneficiaries. Is it possible to let our military (active and retired) know that they may want to look at opting out since the service is provided by TRICARE? A:Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this. Ambulance Services are definitely a covered benefit with both TRICARE Prime and Standard. The out of pocket costs for TRICARE beneficiaries differs between the two programs. TRICARE Prime costs: Active duty service members and their family members enrolled in Prime will have no out of pocket expenses for a covered ambulance service. Retirees and their family members enrolled in Prime have a $20 co-pay for each covered ambulance service. TRICARE Standard costs: Active duty family members in Standard will be subject to their deductible and cost shares appropriate to their rank (E-1 to E-4) $50 individual deductible / (E-5 and above) $150 individual deductible and a 20 percent cost-share for both beneficiary groups. Retirees and their family members in Standard will be subject to their $50 individual deductible (E-1 to E-4)/$150 individual deductible (E-5 and above) and a 25 percent cost-share for both beneficiary groups. Opting out of the service will be a personal choice for each TRICARE beneficiary depending on their Prime or Standard status and if they can financially handle the TRICARE deductibles, co-pays and/or cost-shares. Active Duty members and their family members in Prime have no out-of-pocket costs, so they may want to look at opting out of the Total Care Ambulance Service. Because TRICARE Standard beneficiaries have deductibles and cost shares to meet every fiscal year (October to September), these beneficiaries will need to make a choice whether to opt-out of the service, as several ambulance service calls per year can add up.