Panel Pushes Mail Order Pharmacy
On Feb. 6, the Task Force on the Future of Military Healthcare heard four TRICARE proposals by Navy Rear Adm. Thomas McGinnis, Tricare's chief of pharmaceutical operations. The thrust was to encourage Tricare beneficiaries to use the mail order system. He would move all third-tier maintenance medications not on the uniform formulary to the mail order pharmacy service. He also would authorize purchase of maintenance drugs on the formulary only by mail order or from base pharmacies. In addition he would place certain over-the-counter medications into the uniform formulary to be dispensed at no cost. Finally, he would completely revise the co-pay system as follows:
- Jump up retail pharmacy co-pays for generic drugs (Tier 1) from $3 to $5
- Ratchet up retail co-pays for name-brand drugs (Tier 2) from $9 to $15
- Move all non-formulary (Tier 3) medications to the mail order system
- Change mail order co-pays to $0 for Tier 1 drugs, $15 for Tier 2, and 20 percent of Tricare's cost for Tier 3
Administration Seeks New VA Means Test
The section of the administration's fiscal 2008 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs again targets veterans who have little or no VA disability rating. The proposal would establish an annual enrollment fee based on means testing for veterans enrolled in Priority groups 7 and 8. The fee for annual incomes from $50,000 to $74,999 would be $250. For incomes from $75,000 to $99,999 enrollment cost would double to $500. And veterans with incomes of $100,000 or more would pay $750. The budget also would almost double prescription drug co-pays from $8 to $15. Veterans organizations are opposed to such hikes in fees and drug co-pays on grounds that military beneficiaries have already paid their dues by their service and sacrifice for their country. Congress has rejected proposals to bump up VA fees in the past, and the vets' organizations are lobbying for similar action this year.
Bill Would Block Tricare Fee Hikes
Last year Congress blocked until Sept. 30 of this year the Defense Department's plan to impose huge annual layers of Tricare fees on military retirees under age 65. To counter plans by DoD to institute two tiers of increases at once in October, Representatives Chet Edwards, D-Texas, and Walter Jones, R-N.C., have introduced H.R. 579. Their Military Retirees' Healthcare Protection Act would place control of the fees in congressional hands for four key categories:
- enrollment fees for retired members and survivors in Tricare Prime
- enrollment fees for the Tricare Reserve Select program
- pharmacy co-payments
- co-payments for inpatient care