Beneficiary RX co-pays would climb for a decade

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/04/20/2565471/beneficiary-rx-co-pays-would-climb.html

Beneficiary RX co-pays would climb for a decade
TOM PHILPOTT; Contributing Writer
Published: April 20, 2013 at 12:05 a.m. PDT

Rahm Emanuel, while serving as President Obama’s first chief of staff, once advised not to let a “crisis go to waste” because that’s when politicians will do things they otherwise wouldn’t.

Defense officials seem to have taken that advice to heart amid the current debt crisis with their plan to boost co-payments on military family members and retirees who use Tricare retail and mail order pharmacies.

For starters, the current $17 co-pay collected at retail outlets for 30-day prescriptions of brand name drugs found on the military formulary would double to $26 on Oct. 1, start of the new fiscal year. The retail co-pay then would be increased by $2 every October through 2017 and possibly for five years longer because budget document refers to a 10-year phase-in plan.

Also on Oct. 1, if Congress allows, brand name drugs not on the military-approved formulary would become unavailable using Tricare at neighborhood drug outlets except on a very limited basis.