Military Health Care News 032406

Since 03-26-06

From: Waspscpo@aol.com [mailto:Waspscpo@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 7:18 AM
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Subject: Military Health Care News

http://www.defensehealth.net/updatearchive/03242006.htm

Military Health Care News   

 The Marine Corps Times reports that the Department of Defense (DoD) has told TRICARE contractors to cancel plans for an Oct. 1 increase in health care fees for military retirees under age 65.  DoD has not given up on their basic proposal, which calls for fee hikes of as much as $1,500 a year for working-age retirees using the military health care system. But they now seem to recognize that fierce opposition from military and veterans’ groups and growing concern in Congress have made an Oct. 1 effective date for the increases virtually impossible. 

At the March 14 Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee  hearing, the Republican chairman and Democratic ranking member of the Senate Armed Services personnel panel promised military service associations they would not support the fee increases until an independent audit of the military health care system is completed to determine if there are other ways to cut increasing health care costs. 

Additionally, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee have announced they oppose the TRICARE fee increases, and a bipartisan bill was introduced in the House to block any increases without specific congressional approval. 

The Pentagon’s proposed fee increases, still being reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, would increase enrollment fees, co-payments and deductibles for military retirees under the age of 65 and their families. Increases would be based on pay grade, and would apply to both TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard, with a maximum increase of $1,500 a year.  http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1633691.php      

According to the March 22 article of Military Update, TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) will implement a campaign to raise mail order usage of its pharmacy program.  TMA will begin with an effort to educate beneficiaries on the convenience and cost-savings of prescriptions filled by mail.  Then as early as October 2006, unless Congress intercedes, TMA plans to restructure pharmacy co-payments so mail order usage becomes more attractive, and retail less so. 

TMA officials hope to use a change in co-payments not only to encourage more beneficiaries to use mail order but also generic drugs.  The plan would end the $3 co-payment on mail order generics. At the same time, co-pay for the retail network would rise from $3 up to $5 for generic and from $9 up to $15 for brand name drugs.  Last year, only six percent of 6.6 million military beneficiaries with prescriptions to fill used the low-cost TRICARE Mail Order Program. 

By contrast, 51 percent had at least one prescription filled through TRICARE’s more costly retail network.  The use of the retail pharmacy point of service (POS) rather than the mail-order POS results in DoD paying many millions of dollars more than it should for pharmacy drugs.  Every prescription filled in TRICARE retail outlets, which totaled 50 million last year, costs the government 30 to 40 percent more than do prescriptions filled by mail order.  http://www.fra.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=3000