Cutting health care costs: How you can help. We’ve always said that retirees through service and sacrifice have already paid enormous premiums. We believe strongly that the Defense Department must expend greater efforts on reducing health costs by eliminating inefficiencies in administration, contracting, and procurement rather than looking first to beneficiaries. AUSA will continue to push them to find the inefficiencies, but we also believe that beneficiaries can help. Filling a prescription at a civilian pharmacy instead of using mail order is one of the factors driving up military costs. The TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy offers beneficiaries a way to save money and time by having medications delivered to their home.  When beneficiaries chose home delivery, they receive up to a 90-day supply for the same co-pay as a 30-day supply from the retail pharmacy. It is a win-win situation for the beneficiary and the Defense Department. DoD pays 30 to 40 percent less for prescriptions filled through the mail-order service compared to retail pharmacies.  It could save them about $24 million a year if just 1 percent of prescriptions were shifted from retail to mail order. For more information on the TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy Program and how to enroll visit www.tricare.osd.mil/pharmacy/tmop_order.cfm. The president’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012 includes a proposal to increase co-pays for drug prescriptions filled through retail pharmacies by $2 to $3. (See related story Page 3.)Co-pays for obtaining generic drugs through mail order will be eliminated completely. There is no co-pay for prescriptions filled at military treatment facilities.Another factor that drives up cost is using the emergency room for non-emergency situations.  The average cost for an emergency room visit is 10 times more than the cost of an urgent care visit.In many cases, using the emergency room is unnecessary and can result in longer wait times. You can often be treated more quickly at a military treatment facility or at an urgent care center.The emergency room is for life-threatening situations – anything that could have severe long-term effects. Urgent care centers are used to treat patients who have an injury or illness that requires immediate care but is not serious enough to warrant a visit to an emergency room.