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OCTOBER 12, 2000

Employees of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut face losing a benefit to which they've become accustomed due to a federal audit of the tribe's discount prescription drug program.

The tribe says it considers its employees members of the community. Therefore, they say they should be allowed to offer free drugs, which they purchase at a lower rate, to all employees, Indian or not.

But the audit says the tribe cannot offer them to non-Indian employees because there are alternatives to the service. Also, the audit said the tribe never made an adequate determination that it could offer the drugs to non-Indians.

The majority of the drugs, 82 percent, bought by the tribe went to non-Indians. Only 7 percent went to tribal members and their families.

The rest went to other tribes who contracted with the tribe and some were dispensed to non-Indians, said the audit.

Read the Report:
Audit of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's Use of Federal Discount Drug Programs (Dept. of Health and Human Services. A-01-99-01502. August 2000)

Get the Story:
Foxwoods workers concerned about prescription program (The New London Day 10/12)
Audit finds abuse of drug program (The Medicine Wheel 10/11)

Relevant Links:
The Indian Health Service - www.ihs.gov
The Office of Pharmacy Affairs, Health Resources and Services Administration - www.hrsa.gov/odpp/default.htm
The Department of Veterans Affairs - www.va.gov