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TRICARE Can Help Make New Year’s Resolutions a Reality

  • Published
FALLS CHURCH, Va. --  Need to save money? Tobacco still turning you on? Fighting the battle of the bulge? It seems year after year, those are among the hot topics on most people's New Year's resolution lists. 

This year, let TRICARE help.

Saving money on regularly used prescriptions got a lot easier in 2007. The new Member Choice Center opened to rave reviews as beneficiaries found they could save a bundle on medications - and have them delivered - by switching from retail pharmacies to the safe, convenient TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy. 

Converting from retail to mail order can be accomplished 24/7 via the Web at www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE, or simply call 1-877-363-1433 to speak to a patient care advocate. The online MCC has proven surprisingly popular with beneficiaries, the majority switching over with the click of the mouse. In either case, the MCC patient care advocates contact physicians to have prescriptions switched over to TMOP. 

Take regular heartburn medications? The co-pay on Nexium was recently lowered to $3, and a two-year test of over-the-counter medications allows beneficiaries to try Prilosec OTC for free. More money saved. 

Achieving a healthier lifestyle through activities such as exercise, losing weight and quitting tobacco can help save money too - for beneficiaries and for the military health care system. 

TRICARE's ongoing "Healthy Choices for Life" campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the problems of obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse.
Statistically, service members smoke or chew tobacco at higher rates than the civilian population. Quitting tobacco is a New Year's resolution that will pay off in healthy dividends and now there is help through the Department of Defense educational campaign "Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud." Visit the new Web site www.ucanquit2.org where users can develop a personalized plan for quitting, play games, listen to podcasts, connect to on-line cessation programs and even chat with a trained cessation counselor, seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. TRICARE's "Kick Butts" multi-media feature on the Press Room at www.tricare.mil has even more helpful information, links and a list of some of the smoking cessation programs offered by the services. 

Cutting down on alcohol use is also a great New Year's "get healthy" resolution. "That Guy" is a DOD funded peer-to-peer campaign to increase awareness of the problems associated with overindulging. The campaign is designed to bring home the message by using humor to reach the target audience - young service members. Check out the award-winning Web site at www.thatguy.com. 

TRICARE is also helping beneficiaries keep "get healthy" resolutions by encouraging clinical preventive services such as flu shots and regular screenings for colon, prostate and breast cancer. TRICARE also now covers the Shingles vaccine for beneficiaries 60 and older and Magnetic Resonance Imaging screening for women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer. 

Whether it's increasing savings on prescription medications through TMOP or reducing the risk of illness through preventive screenings, just remember it's a brand new year - so make a "healthy choice for life."