Military families push extended health care benefits for their children

Premiums for children of military families who want to stay insured under TRICARE have increased by up to 22% over the last year.

Debra Ward -- a military wife and mother -- assumed her husband's more than 25 years of service would provide a safety net whenever their child became sick.

The couple's only son, 22-year-old Joel, was diagnosed diabetes over a a decade ago and has already suffered from three life-threatening hypoglycemic shocks while in college.

So when renewing her son's insurance card, it came as a surprise that he would only be eligible for the plan's benefits until he was 23, not 26 like most other dependents in the U.S. After that, she would need to start paying more than $450 in monthly premiums to remain insured under TRICARE, the civilian care component of the Military Health System.

"I didn't believe it at first, with my husband being in active duty and all," Ward said. "Looking at the premiums they were asking for, I thought surely something had been messed up."