Two dozen Democrat and Republican lawmakers have raised issues about Express Scripts, the company that oversees the U.S. military’s pharmacy program, charging that the benefits manager engages in tactics that squelch competition and raise prices.
The lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., wrote Defense Department leadership last week questioning the DoD‘s sole-source contract with Express Scripts, which manages the Tricare retail pharmacy network and prescription home delivery programs.
They said Express Scripts, which has overseen Tricare pharmacy operations since 2009 and was awarded an eight-year contract in 2021 worth up to $4.3 billion, has used its power to strong-arm independent pharmacies and steer Tricare patients to its own mail-order companies.
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The results, they said, are fewer options for military personnel and family members and higher costs.
“We believe DHA’s exclusive contract with Express Scripts may be harming Tricare beneficiaries, independent pharmacies, and American taxpayers,” they wrote in a letter June 26 to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez and Defense Health Agency Director Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland. “[Express Scripts’] anti-competitive gaming is particularly evident in Tricare.”
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