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Bilirakis Legislation Examines Zero Co-payment for Military Mail-Order Prescription Drug Benefit |
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May 22, 2007
WASHINGTON -U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), member of the House
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, has introduced legislation that would examine
if zero co-payments for mail-order drugs would boost cost savings for the
Department of Defense's TRICARE pharmacy program by increasing participation in
the mail-order option.
The TRICARE
Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot Program Act, H.R.2319, would establish a
mail-order pharmacy pilot program to educate beneficiaries and boost their
participation in the mail-order option for their longer-term prescription drug
needs.
Currently TRICARE
beneficiaries can fill prescriptions three ways: by mail-order, directly at
military treatment facilities or through retail pharmacies. Congressman
Bilirakis's legislation would be a significant step toward increasing
participation in the TRICARE mail-order prescription drug benefit.
"My goal is to get more
TRICARE beneficiaries to participate in a lower cost pharmacy option for their
everyday maintenance prescriptions. Ideally, I would like for all patients
with chronic prescription needs to participate," said Rep. Bilirakis. "The
result would be a decrease in overall TRICARE prescription drug costs that
could be passed on to patients in other critical areas. In order to do
that, however, we need to provide an incentive and reach out to beneficiaries
to show them how to participate and how they can benefit. This pilot
program would do just that."
Many military retiree
organizations have already stepped forward to support H.R. 2319. VADM
Norb Ryan, Jr. (USN-Ret), President of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA),
considers this legislation a potential victory for both TRICARE beneficiaries
and the government.
"MOAA believes this
initiative is an extremely important one that has great potential as a
'win-win' situation for the government and beneficiaries alike,"
said VADM Ryan, Jr. "To date, too many in government have only
complained about rising health costs without being willing to partner with
beneficiaries to reduce those costs in mutually beneficial ways."
The two-year pilot would
include 2,000 eligible beneficiaries in each TRICARE region - 1,000 of whom
would also be enrolled in Medicare Part B - who have yet to use the TRICARE
mail-order benefit. The participants would have their prescription
co-payment waived, receive detailed information and instructions about the
mail-order program and be surveyed on the results of their participation and
experiences.
The Secretary of Defense
would then report the findings of the pilot program to Congress to determine if
it should be continued or expanded. The assessment will examine the
following criteria: potential cost savings to the Department, whether or not
participants consistently used the benefit and if waiving the co-payment was a
strong enough incentive to boost participation.
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