Two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and the director of the Defense Health Agency last week regarding concerns about Express Scripts and how it’s running the Tricare pharmacy program. Led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), the letter highlights that the second largest PBM in the nation is both administering the program and participating in it, raising the bipartisan concern that it’s using this exclusive contract to overcharge taxpayers and drive out competition at the expense of our service members. It also quotes Hugh Chancy, NCPA’s immediate past president, who spoke at a House Oversight Committee hearing in September 2023 and described the harms of ESI’s steering practices on one of his patients, helping to illustrate the problems people are experiencing as a result. We applaud the legislators for holding the Department of Defense and ESI accountable and pushing to preserve patient access to medications and pharmacies.
NCPA
