SOAA has been actively involved in advocating against state-level Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reforms that stand to impact veteran communities. Federal systems, including TRICARE and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pharmacy program, rely heavily on PBMs to support veterans with access to necessary medications. Changes mandated at the state level would adversely affect veterans’ ability to get life-saving care easily, including through mail-order prescription programs.
In order to understand veterans’ concerns about and vulnerability to pharmaceutical access issues, SOAA delivered a ten-question survey to its members. Nine of the questions were closed-ended, designed to determine respondents’ military status, their knowledge of pharmacy access issues, and their possible impacts if their medication access changed. A final, open-ended question was designed to solicit information about how specific respondents would be impacted if their preferred pharmacy were to close.
Overall Results
Several meaningful data points were obtained through querying our members, though we acknowledge that they may be subject to respondent bias, given that those who completed the questionnaire may have already held strong opinions on pharmacy access or current TRICARE or VA policies.
- 76% of respondents said it was at least somewhat important to have a chain pharmacy available in their community.
- Over 55% of respondents said that they would be impacted either a great deal (34.7%) or a moderate amount (20.4%) if the pharmacy where they fill most of their prescriptions closed.
- 69.4% of respondents said that being able to conveniently and affordably fill prescriptions was a major concern for themselves or their family.
- Nearly 90% of respondents said that it was very convenient (65.3%) or somewhat convenient (24.5%) to fill and pick up their prescriptions in the manner they use now.
- Almost two-thirds of respondents said that they had had a very positive (38.8%) or somewhat positive (26.5%) experience with a mail-order or home-delivery pharmacy, though a notable 10.2% said that they had had a “very negative” experience with mail-order medications.
- Respondents noted that the biggest factors in where they fill their prescriptions are the proximity to where they live or work (38.8%) and a low out-of-pocket cost for medications (32.7%).
In Their Own Words
The final question in the survey was an open-ended question about how it would affect a respondent and their family members if the pharmacy they used most often closed. Some results were particularly poignant and showed how closely some respondents’ lives are tied to their care.
Several themes were notable among respondents, including a significant population who would not be impacted by a closure because they already have their medications shipped to their home.
Respondents in more rural areas noted that they would be more impacted by a closure than urban respondents who had multiple alternatives close by.
Individual responses ran the gamut of levels of concern. One respondent said that their “family would be devastated” by a closure, while another noted that they rely on their monthly Glaucoma prescription “to keep [their] eyes from going blind.” On the other end of the spectrum, some said that a change would not affect them, or that the impact would be “not much.”
Some respondents noted that drugs being out of stock or the burden of paying co-pays are more frequent concerns for their families. This leads us to believe that additional questions on these topics would be valuable when this survey is updated to query the nationwide veteran community about how PBM reform may impact veterans.
