washington scene
MOAA President Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN (Ret), wrote to then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta supporting the concept of the DWM but recommending a change of precedence to put the new decoration just below the Purple Heart.
Mail-Order Update
MOAA answers your mail-order pharmacy questions.
MOAA experts have researched and answered some of the common questions and concerns regarding use of TRICARE’s mail-order pharmacy.
I live in Arizona, where temperatures routinely are over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Won’t drugs lose their potency if they ride around in a hot mail truck all day or sit on a porch or in a mailbox?
Express Scripts officials (whose TRICARE distribution center is in Tempe, Ariz.) say the temperature issue is mainly a longer-term storage concern. Sitting in a delivery vehicle or mailbox at higher temperatures won’t cause a loss of potency for most drugs. Prescriptions for which that could be an issue are mailed in special temperature-controlled packaging and closely tracked during the delivery process.
My wife and I get our prescriptions from a military pharmacy. Will we have to sign up for mail-order refills and stop going to the base?
No. You still can get refills through military pharmacies if you choose. The restriction on maintenance medication refills for Medicare-eligibles only applies to retail pharmacies, not military pharmacies.
My mother is a 91-year-old surviving spouse who is a TRICARE For Life beneficiary. She lives on her own — without a computer. How will TRICARE and Express Scripts handle this new requirement with her?
A mail-order refill account can be set up pretty quickly and easily by phone, with a special line for the hearing-impaired. Still, some seniors might have disabilities or cognitive impairments that might be problematic. MOAA is working with DoD to help establish reasonable criteria for exemptions from the mandatory program.
My spouse has had difficulty obtaining a prescribed narcotic from the mail-order pharmacy. The prescription is only for a 30-day period and then requires a new one. How will this be handled?
Only refillable medications will be affected by the mail-order/military pharmacy requirement. Although some narcotics may be used for chronic conditions, all narcotics will be excluded from the requirement.
How do I contact Express Scripts to set up a mail-order account and get my prescriptions transferred?
You can do that online at
http://express-scripts.com/tricare. Many prefer to do it by phone at (877) 363-1433 (for the hearing impaired, TTY [877] 540-6261).
Senate Votes Against Troops
Effort to protect pay is defeated.
Congress passed legislation in early February to suspend the debt ceiling for three more months. The new law will suspend Congress’ pay if the House and Senate don’t pass budget resolutions by April 15.
COLA Starts Climb After starting the fiscal year in the hole, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in January. For the year, inflation is still 0.2 percent below the FY 2013 baseline. Follow month-to-month trends at
www.moaa.org/cola.
APRIL 2013 MILITARY OFFICER 37
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