Tuberville Chairs Personnel Subcommittee Hearing on TRICARE Pharmacy program

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) chaired a hearing for the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel focused on improving the TRICARE pharmacy program.

Watch excerpts from Sen. Tuberville's opening remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.

"This hearing gives us an opportunity to examine a critical component of military health care, the TRICARE Pharmacy Program. Our witness today have a wide variety of experiences from policy oversight of the program, all the way to TRICARE beneficiaries using its services. I want to thank Dr. David Smith, Dr. Adam Kautzner, […] Doctor Lansford and Mr. Greg Reybold.

As someone who spent decades coaching young men and women to perform at the highest level, I understand that success depends on preparation, discipline, and access to the right tools. The same principle applies to our military. We cannot expect service members to maintain peak readiness if they cannot reliably access the medications and treatments they need.

The TRICARE Pharmacy Program serves millions of active-duty service members, retirees, and military families. For many beneficiaries, access to prescription [medications] is not a matter of convenience. It is essential to managing chronic conditions, recovering from injuries, maintaining health and mental health, and ensuring overall fitness for duty. As Congress […] continues to oversee military healthcare spending, we must strike the right balance between controlling costs and maintaining access. Savings achieved on paper are not real savings if they result in delayed treatment, reduced readiness, or additional healthcare costs down the road.

I'm particularly interested in how the pharmacy program supports preventative care, injury recovery, behavioral health and overall forced readiness. We should be asking whether beneficiaries can access medications in a timely manner, whether military families and rural communities face unique challenges, and whether the department is using modern tools and data to improve outcomes while managing costs. I also want to understand how the Department is preparing for future challenges, including drug shortages, supply chain disruptions, and the growing costs associated with specialty medications.

Ultimately our goal should be straightforward-to provide American service members and their families with reliable access to high quality pharmacy services while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. I thank our witnesses for appearing here today and look forward to their testimony."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

###