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Washington, D.C.-The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today offered its "strong support" for the efforts of one small Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program plan to purchase costly prescription drugs at a discount from the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) and pass those savings on to enrollees.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said that with one in four FEHB dollars spent on prescription medicines, the effort by the Special Agents Mutual Benefit Association (SAMBA) is a "forward-thinking approach to controlling health care costs." The SAMBA proposal, Kelley said, is supported by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), but very strongly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.

The NTEU president offered support for the SAMBA proposal in testimony submitted to the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, which is reviewing drug-purchasing policies of the Veterans Administration.

She noted that prescription drugs are one of the fastest-growing components of health insurance costs, and that since FEHB is the nation=s largest employer-sponsored health insurance plan, it is in a unique position to use its buying power to negotiate discount rates in order to bring down costs and premiums wherever possible.

SAMBA, Kelley said, is one of the smaller FEHB plans, with approximately 17,000 enrollees. Nonetheless, she pointed out, when the plan sought permission to access the discounts available under the FSS, it said that this one step alone would reduce its premiums by three percent annually, savings some $2.4 million a year.

The wise course, Kelley said, is to approve the SAMBA request for at least a two year pilot program. At the end of that period, she said, OPM would be in a position to determine whether it should create its own separate drug purchasing schedule under which FEHB fee-for-service health plan with cost-reimbursement style contracts with the government could purchase prescription drugs.

That would go a long way toward helping eliminate "the patchwork of drug purchase arrangements" that currently exists in the FEHB, Kelley said, serving government employees, retirees and taxpayers alike. "The taxpayer savings that could result from the federal government adopting a prescription drug schedule similar to the FSS must be considered," she said.