Express Scripts is forcing Tricare members to use their mail-in prescription service by cancelling the contracts with local pharmacies. I have received letters from Express Scripts and Walgreens stating that Walgreens (which I use) will no longer be filling Tricare prescriptions as of January 1st. According to Express Scripts, Walgreens won't work with them in keeping prescription costs down. Walgreens says that it has offered to lower their rates with Express Scripts to keep Tricare prescription costs down. They also offered to separate their contract for Tricare from their other Express Scripts business and to extend the contract only for the Department of Defense. Express Scripts has rejected all efforts to reach an agreement. Express Scripts says that using Walgreens would cause the cost of Tricare to increase. It would seem that Tricare is increasing anyway, and once that starts the fees will probably escalate. I believe that Express Scripts simply wants all the prescription business for themselves and doesn't want any other pharmacies involved. That would be a disaster. Think about it: you get your prescriptions through the mail, this can take two weeks, tough luck if you are down to your last couple of pills! When you get your prescription and you want to discuss it with a pharmacist, tough luck again, there isn't one. I don't know about you, but I always check the labels before I leave the pharmancy to be sure I have the correct medicine, it is the right dosage, and that it is actually mine, not someone elses' by mistake. Can't do that with meds you get in the mail, and once the package is delivered, you can't return the meds for any reason. Been there, done that! Also, I had a problem with my last doctor's office staff, they were idiots. They kept calling in refills, every day for a couple of weeks, for the meds I was presently taking plus for meds I hadn't taken in years! Package after package was deliverd from Express Scripts, who should have questioned all these refills, but didn't. Why would they, they were making money from it all. They took the payment from my bank account which I had to give them access to. Each package that arrived I opened, not knowing what was in it. After a couple of packages I called Express Scripts and told them to stop sending any more meds since I didn't need or want them. I also told them I was sending back the ones I had received. I was then informed that they wouldn't stop sending meds as long as my Dr's office kept sending in requests. Also, since I had opened the packages (to see what was in them!) I couldn't return the contents. So, there I was stuck with all sorts of medicines that I didn't want and had no intention of taking, and couldn't return them. Plus my bank account was out all the money for them, and I couldn't afford it. Express Scripts are nothing but crooks and have many complaints about them on this web site and others. Doesn't it make you wonder why our Government is allowing such crooks to milk it's Military Retirees. I wonder who is getting a kick-back on this one. Nobody is honest any more and the people in power who are supposed to safeguard our welfares seem to be hand in glove with the crooks. It's a sad world.
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