“While I recognize the need to contain prescription drug costs, I will not sit quiet while our leadership lets drug companies off the hook and shifts the burden to our active duty and retired military personnel,” said Representative Berry. “We know how to provide low-cost prescription drugs for military beneficiaries. We just need to hold the drug companies accountable for a discount they should already provide.”

With prescription drug costs on the rise, DoD is seeking ways to control spending in the TRICARE program. The agency has tried numerous times to enforce a provision in the 1992 Veterans Health Care Act which requires pharmaceutical companies to give DoD discounts on prescription drugs. Despite these repeated efforts, pharmaceutical companies refuse to grant discounts for the TRICARE retail program like they do for drugs dispensed through the mail order program.

The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization bill would clarify the 1992 provision, forcing pharmaceutical companies to extend discounts to the TRICARE retail program. This would lower costs and eliminate the need for a provision in the House bill to increase retail co-payments for TRICARE beneficiaries. The provision would increase the price of generic drugs from $3 to $6 a month and the price of brand name drugs from $9 to $16 a month.  

“Military personnel and their families rely on TRICARE for their health coverage.  The conferees should accept the Senate-passed  provision, which will guarantee   access to affordable prescription drugs whether at the pharmacy or through mail-order, as Congress intended,” said Representative Cardin, a member of the Ways and Means Committee who successfully expanded access to TRICARE coverage for military retirees and their spouses.