Texas reps blast Defense Dept. health plan over pharmacy cuts

Veterans in West Texas may not be able to fill prescriptions at their hometown pharmacies and instead may have to drive to large chain pharmacies - under a new contract that drops many independent pharmacies from the U.S. Department of Defense Health Agency’s provider network, local congressmen and healthcare experts said.

Veterans and their families can fill routine prescriptions at a military pharmacy without a copay but can also opt to use outside pharmacies through Tricare, the Defense Department’s private health care program.

But on Oct. 24, Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefit manager for Tricare, dropped nearly 15,000 pharmacies from its network, according to the Kaiser Health Network. About 27 percent of all pharmacies in the Tricare network are no longer covered, leaving more than 400,000 military beneficiaries affected, Kaiser said. The move has upset customers and many independent pharmacies and has raised concerns among some service member advocates and lawmakers in rural states who feel it disproportionately affects rural veterans, Kaiser said.

Cub Drug owner Randall Whitmire said his pharmacy will keep taking Tricare and wil keep serving the community’s veterans and their families. “We are just going to do it and have negative margins,” he said. “What they’re really trying to do is push them on base or push them to mail order. Maintenance medications they can probably get in a timely manner; anything that ... they need right now is going to be a problem.”

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Olney, along with Reps. August Pfluger and Ronny Jackson criticized the new DOD contract as “predatory” and said it will “jeopardize access to independent pharmacies for rural and underserved communities.”

“Independent and community pharmacies serve as the lifeline for thousands of servicemembers throughout our nation who have made a great sacrifice to earn their Tricare benefits, including right here at home in West Texas,” Rep. Arrington said. The new contract “will have a severe impact on the well-being of thousands of individuals that serve or have served honorably,” the congressmen said in a statement.