U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was among more than a dozen bipartisan members of Congress who recently urged the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to consider a pilot provision of the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would reduce prescription drug costs for DOD and provide benefits for specific beneficiaries.
In a June 28 letter to DOD Secretary James Mattis, Capito and the other senators asked him for “timely consideration” of an NDAA pilot program that would begin Oct. 1 to improve access and reduce costs of prescription drugs in the TRICARE program, which serves active duty and retired military personnel, reservists, National Guard members and their families.
Currently, all TRICARE beneficiaries must get their non-generic medications from a military treatment facility (MTF) or through mail order — they don’t have an option to visit a pharmacy.
The pilot program would allow beneficiaries to get their medications from local pharmacies while preserving access through the existing MTF and mail order systems, and would reduce costs by allowing DOD to purchase non-generic medications at the same lower rate it pays for drugs dispensed through the mail or MTFs, according to the senators’ letter.
“In addition to reducing costs to the TRICARE program, this pilot will help small businesses contribute back to their local economies and will help to sustain the pharmacy benefit upon which our deserving military veterans and families rely,” the letter said.