Representative Ayanna Pressley introduced the Wigs for Warriors Act on October 1, 2026, alongside Representative Eugene Vindman. The bill would require TRICARE to cover cranial prostheses for people with alopecia areata and other non-cancer conditions that cause permanent or medically documented hair loss, certified by a physician.
It would also end a limit that matters a great deal. TRICARE allows one prosthesis per patient for life. The bill removes that cap, letting chemotherapy patients receive more than one wig as medically necessary. The cost is the reason this is a bill and not a footnote: medical grade wigs run from roughly $200 to well into the thousands.
Pressley has alopecia areata herself and said so plainly in making the case. “Through my own experience with alopecia areata, I understand the psychological, social, and economic impact that comes with navigating severe hair loss, and I know that we can do something to lighten the load,” she said. Military families facing severe hair loss, she added, “should be met with the support and care they need to feel like their authentic selves.”
Roughly half of Black women experience hair loss in their lifetime, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Alopecia areata affects nearly 7 million people nationally.
For Black women in military families the arithmetic is specific: a condition they are likelier to face, a prosthesis priced like a car repair, and a benefit that currently says once per lifetime.
