
TRICARE
COPAY CHANGE
The Department of Defense has allowed Express
Scripts (the
Pharmacy Benefits Manager, or PBM, hired to manage the prescription
benefit) to
change the TRICARE prescription copay structure to tilt toward Express
Scripts
own mail order facilities as opposed to local pharmacies in a blatantly
anti-competitive
manner. Island Drug and LaConner Drug
strongly oppose this. Our staff works
extremely hard to provide an unmatched service level locally, in
addition to
other value added services such as Medicine-On-Time, ALL DAY
walk in immunizations,
FREE Delivery, compounding
and much more including refill reminders,
iBuck$ loyalty program,
and rx
ready text notifications. We feel the
military
families who served our country should have a choice on where to get their
prescriptions
filled ON AN EVEN PLAYING FIELD; meaning the copay should be the same
for ALL
providers. If a beneficiary feels
Express Scripts Mail Order is more convenient for them, great, but we
are supremely
confident that if the copay is the same customers would chose a local
pharmacy
where they can actually talk to a pharmacist in person!
Again, those
families who fought for our freedoms should not be subjected to
financial penalties for choosing to have their prescriptions
filled by a LOCAL pharmacist in their community.
ACTION
WE CAN TAKE:
This change was implemented because Express
Scripts convinced
lawmakers that money would be saved thru mail order, which is obviously
very
important in this current budget climate.
However, this is simply not true; mail order costs the plan
sponsors (in
this case TRICARE) more money and creates tremendous waste…please see
the
detailed documents below.
If you feel the copays should be the same for ALL
providers,
we would appreciate you submitting a comment via the methods below and
we will submit
collectively to our representatives (Senators Murray, Cantwell, and Rep
Larsen)
- Email: wecare@laconnerdrug.com
- Web
Contact Form: http://laconnerdrug.com/contact.aspx
- Printing,signing,
and dropping off this form to your pharmacist: http://laconnerdrug.com/docs/TRICARE_copay.pdf
- Leave
a comment on the TRICARE Copay Change post
found on our Facebook wall; http://www.facebook.com/laconnerdrug
- Vote on the facebook poll on http://www.facebook.com/laconnerdrug
(direct
link to poll)
Detailed
information on this matter:
Below you will find great detail from the National
Community
Pharmacists Association about the fallacies involved with MANDATORY
mail
order. We encourage you to read thru the
information, there are some very shocking details, and then spread the
word
using the facebook/twitter share buttons at the top of the page or
emailing a
link to this page to others. The fine points are:
-
There should be fair competition, meaning the
same copay structure for ALL providers
-
Mail order creates waste and patient confusion
-
Mail order costs the plan more money
-
Mail order fills a lower percentage of generic
medications
-
Also included is information on the proposed
merger between Express Scripts and Medco, an effort to reduce
competition even
further.
False Savings Of Mail Order Pharmacies
Examples of mail order pharmacy waste
Understaning mail order
Brief on the propsed Express Scripts/Medco merger