ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association have urged a key lawmaker to re-examine the notion of encouraging military beneficiaries to use mail-order pharmacy service under the TRICARE health care program.
NACDS and NCPA on Monday sent a joint letter to Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D., Mich.) stressing the ability of community pharmacies to help lower prescription drug costs and the importance of maintaining the right of military families and veterans to choose where they fill their prescriptions through TRICARE.
The retail pharmacy trade groups said the letter to Levin comes in response to an earlier letter he received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff urging congressional support for the President Obama’s budget proposals. NACDS and NCPA noted that although they support the emphasis on increasing generic drug utilization rates — and pointed to community pharmacy’s valuable role in that regard — they took issue with the concept of incentivizing TRICARE beneficiaries’ use of the TRICARE mail-order pharmacy program.
"We understand the burden of rising health costs and the need to control spending in the military health care system," NACDS and NCPA stated in the letter. "We strongly support the recommendation by the Joint Chiefs to encourage greater utilization of generic drugs."
The letter also cited surveys that have revealed that TRICARE beneficiaries, particularly TRICARE retirees, prefer to obtain prescription medications from retail pharmacy locations. "We believe the choice of where to obtain prescription medications is best left to TRICARE beneficiaries," the letter said.
