washingtonscene Current

Retail (one-month supply)

Generic Brand Name Non-Formulary

Mail-Order (three- month supply)

Generic Brand Name Non-Formulary

2016 FY

FY 2017

2018 FY

2019 FY

2020 FY

2021 FY

2022 FY

2023 FY

2024 FY

$8 $8 $8 $8 $9 $10 $11 $12 $13 $14 $20 $28 $30 $32 $34 $36 $38 $40 $43 $45

$44 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Current 2016 FY

FY 2017

2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY

$0 $0 $0 $0 $9 $10 $11 $12 $13 $14 $16 $28 $30 $32 $34 $36 $38 $40 $43 $45

$46 $54 $58 $62 $66 $70 $75 $80 $85 $90

The Senate’s proposal shifts a dispro- portionate share onto beneficiaries who already are doing their part to lower health care costs. The chart above illustrates how pharma-

cy copayments will increase over the next decade under the Senate bill. Retail and mail-order copayments double or triple, while military treatment facilities will con- tinue to provide prescriptions at no cost. Although MOAA is thankful the Senate

rejected several of the administration’s TRICARE proposals, including plans to consolidate health care options and implement enrollment fees for TRICARE For Life, we think they should have omit- ted TRICARE pharmacy fee hikes as well.

MOAA Testifies O 32 MILITARY OFFICER AUGUST 2015

on Benefits Norton outlines health care and benefits priorities.

n May 20, Col. Bob Norton, USA (Ret), a deputy director in MOAA’s Government Relations

Department, testified at a joint hearing before the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs committees.

Norton outlined MOAA’s key con- cerns and recommendations to improve veterans’ access to VA health services, upgrade existing benefits, and extend special services to disabled servicemem- bers’ full-time caregivers. Norton also presented MOAA’s rec- ommendations on assuring aggressive implementation of the Choice Card for veterans stuck on waiting lists for VA care and those who live at least 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic. MOAA was joined by national com- manders or representatives from several partners in The Military Coalition — AMVETS, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Iraq and Afghanistan Vet- erans of America, and the Non Commis- sioned Officers Association — as well as the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Blinded Veterans Association. Norton described outsourced care as

“a wobbly, three-layered cake: the first layer is local purchased care contracts, the second layer is the VA national patient- centered care contracts, which got some primary care icing added on to the special- ty-care contract, and the third layer is the Choice Card program for rural veterans and veterans stuck on long waiting lists.”