SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - An amendment to the Defense Act, from Senator Mike Rounds, would end a provision requiring military retirees who get prescriptions from a retail pharmacy, or mail order, to pay more than those who get prescriptions from military treatment facilities.
Rounds' amendment would exempt veterans who live more than 40 miles from a military facility from paying higher copays.
He says the arbitrary cost-cutting measure is estimates to cost military, retiree families, in rural areas, over $2 billion in the next ten years.
Rounds says it isn't fair for veterans living in rural South Dakota to pay a higher copay.
He says his amendment will enable Congress to make reasonable future decisions with regard to increased TRICARE prescription drug copayments that may have a disproportionate impact on those living distant from Military Treatment Facilities.