{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-strengthen-access-to-care-for-active-duty-military-families", "Cotton Introduces Bill to Strengthen Access to Care for Active-Duty Military Families", "2026-03-17", "2026", "2026-03", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nMarch 17, 2026\n\nCotton Introduces Bill to Strengthen Access to Care for Active-Duty Military Families\n\nWashington, DC \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) today introduced legislation to strengthen pharmacy access for active-duty military members and their families. The Rx ACCESS Act protects independent pharmacies from unfair reimbursement practices in the TRICARE program and ensures that military members and their families have easy access to the prescriptions they need.\n\n\u201cOur active-duty troops and their families make extraordinary sacrifices for our nation, yet they often face difficulties accessing essential prescription medications. Our bill will ensure that active-duty military families can access their prescriptions at pharmacies of their choice,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\n\u201cWe have an obligation to our servicemembers and their families to ensure they have access to high-quality health care. This bipartisan legislation is critical to ensuring active-duty military members and families can get the prescription medication they need, and I\u2019ll be working with my colleagues to get it passed,\u201d said Senator Kaine.\n\nText of the bill can be found here.\n\nThe Rx ACCESS Act would:\n\nRequire pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to reimburse pharmacies participating in TRICARE:\n\nThe actual cost of the drug; or\n\nThe national average drug acquisition cost.\n\nEnsure pharmacies are paid a dispensing fee equal to the Medicaid dispensing fee.\n\nDirect the Comptroller General to conduct an annual audit of TRICARE PBM data related to:\n\nPrescription drug reimbursement rates, and;\n\nAdequacy of TRICARE retail pharmacy network access with respect to continuity of care and geographic accessibility.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-strengthen-access-to-care-for-active-duty-military-families"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8116398714482784, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}