FederalDaily - July 19, 2006
TRICARE Bill Pushes Mail-Order Pharmacies
Legislation that would force many U.S. military families to fill
most of their prescriptions through mail-order drug warehouses
instead of their local community pharmacies has passed in both
houses of Congress. In a July 17 statement, the National Community
Pharmacists Association (NCPA) complained that the Senate version
of the bill would require all TRICARE beneficiaries to obtain
refills of “maintenance medications” through the mail.
TRICARE is the Department of Defense (DoD) managed health care
program that covers more than 9.2 million active duty military
personnel, military retirees and their families worldwide. The
House version of the bill also penalizes patients by increasing
their co-pay for medications purchased at a community pharmacy—while
it eliminates the co-pay for those filled by mail order. Currently,
brand-name manufacturers offer DoD discounts for prescription
medications dispensed at medical facilities and through TRICARE
mail order. DoD would save approximately $773 million a year if
it were able to successfully negotiate similar discount pricing
for community pharmacies, according to NCPA. For more information,
visit www.ncpanet.org.
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UMWA President Asks DOL to
Clarify Stalled Appointee’s Duties
Cecil E. Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of
America International (UMWA), has filed a Freedom of Information
Act request to force the Department of Labor (DOL) to disclose
the exact duties of Richard Stickler, a consultant to the department.
Nominated by President Bush in September 2005 to be the Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health (MSHA), Stickler
has been unable to achieve Senate confirmation. “I am particularly
interested in documents setting forth the terms of his appointment
including its duration, his financial compensation and benefits,
his job description, who he reports to and who reports to him,”
Roberts wrote in his request letter. In a separate document, Roberts
wrote that “if Mr. Stickler is involved in directing or
developing policy at MSHA through his consulting role, then there
is a serious problem.” For more information, go to: www.wmwa.org.
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IRS Criticized Over Flawed
Fraud Detection
One senator is raising questions over the redesign of the electronic
fraud detection system at the IRS that has resulted in a raft
of undetected fraudulent returns and refund claims. “The
IRS continues to rely on a contractor that for the past two filing
seasons couldn’t deliver what it promised and accepted $20.5
million to deliver,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the tax
collection agency. Quoting figures from a soon-to-be released
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, Grassley
said the failure to detect false filings had cost the Treasury
an additional $320 million so far. “I hope there isn’t
a next time, but if there is, I expect the IRS to come to us the
minute there’s a problem, especially when so much money
is at risk,” he said, after complaining that he only learned
of the problem through “back channels.”
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