Some Members of Congress are Trying to Save Tax Dollars in TRICARE

It’s pretty safe to say that instances of waste, fraud and abuse run rampant in nearly every entity of government and its programs. This means that every time Congress enacts a new law or reauthorizes or amends an old one, we should be on guard and begin to identify possible opportunities where taxpayer dollars could be misspent.

Unfortunately, far too often Washington isn’t proactive enough on this front.  Instead, members of Congress stand on the sidelines and wait to act or even address a problem until it has become too big to ignore.  And then the only impetus that prompts Congress to act is the size and magnitude of the issue.

Likewise, it’s a rarity and something that deserves recognition when members of Congress act swiftly in an attempt to nip a brewing problem in the bud.  That’s precisely what a bipartisan group of eight members of Congress – led by Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME) and Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC) – did in August when they sent a letter to the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting an audit of the mail-order pharmacy program that is offered through TRICARE, the health care program for military personnel, retirees and their dependents. Specifically, the members are concerned that recent policies and programs, which have encouraged the use of TRICARE’s mail-order pharmacy program, may “contribute to pharmaceutical waste and unnecessary expenditures for the Department of Defense.”

In light of the looming, eminent threats of sequestration, the last thing the DoD should be doing is spending additional money that it has no need to spend in the first place.  In their letter, the members also seek to understand whether patients are continuing to receive prescription drugs they no longer have a need for and whether beneficiaries have the opportunity to opt-out of automatic refill programs.  The letter also asks, “Is higher utilization of mail order resulting in waste… and increased health care costs for the Department of Defense?”

Posing these sorts of questions and requesting information about the cost-effectiveness of a government program is something rightfully within the powers of Congress – and something it should always be doing.  Depending on how the DoD’s IG answers these questions will determine how much work Congress must accomplish in order to protect taxpayers.  Whatever the results of the audit are, it’s certainly information that not only Congress, but the American people, should be privy to.  And this request for an audit should certainly not be a problem considering that time and time again the Obama administration has praised itself as the most transparent in history.

Other members of Congress would be wise to follow the example set by Reps. Michaud and Jones as well as six others, and make sure that policies they pass into law are implemented in the most cost-effective and responsible way possible.  As anyone who’s had to do it knows: it’s a lot easier to stop milk from being spilled than it is to attempt to clean it up the mess after it’s spilled.