If you fill prescriptions through Tricare and noticed that your costs went up in January, you were not imagining it. The fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act set in motion a schedule of annual copay increases for Tricare pharmacy benefits, and the 2026 adjustments took effect Jan. 1. The changes affect home delivery and retail pharmacy copays. Military pharmacies remain free. Here is what you’re paying now, what changed, and how to keep your costs as low as possible.
Military Pharmacy: Still $0
If you fill your prescriptions at a military treatment facility pharmacy, nothing has changed. No copay is charged for any covered medication filled at an on-base pharmacy, regardless of whether it is generic, brand-name or non-formulary.
Active-duty service members also pay $0 at network retail pharmacies and through Tricare home delivery. This applies only to active-duty members, not to their dependents, retirees or other beneficiary categories.
Home Delivery Copays
Tricare home delivery through Express Scripts provides a 90-day supply of medication shipped to your door. For 2026, the copays are $14 for a 90-day supply of a generic drug, $44 for brand-name and $85 for non-formulary. The brand-name copay increased from $38 in the previous cycle.
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If you are taking a brand-name medication with no generic equivalent, that increase adds up to roughly $24 more per year for a single prescription. For beneficiaries managing multiple brand-name medications, the annual difference can be meaningful.
Retail Network Pharmacy Copays
Filling a prescription at a retail network pharmacy (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc.) costs more than home delivery and provides only a 30-day supply. For 2026, the copays are $16 for generic, $48 for brand-name and $85 for non-formulary at a network retail pharmacy. If you fill the same brand-name drug at retail instead of home delivery, you are paying $48 per month for a 30-day supply versus $44 for a 90-day supply through home delivery. Over a year, that is $576 at retail for 12 30-day supplies versus $176 through home delivery for the same medication. The math is not close.
Non-Network and Point-of-Service
If you fill a prescription at a non-network pharmacy, Tricare Prime beneficiaries face a 50% cost-share after point-of-service deductibles. For Tricare Select beneficiaries not enrolled in Prime, non-network prescriptions carry a copay of $48 or 20% of the total cost, whichever is greater, after the annual deductible is met. Non-formulary drugs at non-network pharmacies are not reimbursed at all.
Who Is Protected
Active-duty service members continue to pay $0 across all pharmacy channels. Dependent survivors of active-duty service members who died in the line of duty and medically retired service members and their dependents also retain their existing copay protections. These groups are shielded from the annual NDAA-driven copay increases. All Tricare-covered contraceptives are now available with no cost-sharing under a provision from the fiscal 2025 NDAA.
How to Save
The single biggest thing you can do to reduce your pharmacy costs is to switch from retail to either a military pharmacy or home delivery. A military pharmacy costs nothing. Home delivery costs a fraction of retail. You can transfer prescriptions to home delivery online through the Express Scripts website, through the Express Scripts mobile app, by calling 877-363-1303, or by asking your provider to e-prescribe directly to Express Scripts.
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You can check whether your medication is on the Tricare formulary and compare costs using the Formulary Search Tool at militaryrx.express-scripts.com. If a brand-name drug you take has a generic equivalent, switching to the generic drops your home delivery copay from $44 to $14 for a 90-day supply.
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