Kroger Returns to TRICARE
Kroger Pharmacies have rejoined the TRICARE Pharmacy Program network in 2025, adding more than two thousand network pharmacies in the TRICARE system across 35 states.
The re-expanded network comes after a conflict between Kroger and TRICARE. In late 2022, the Air Force issued a press release noting that Kroger’s departure was due to “changes to the contract with Express Scripts, the company that manages the TRICARE Pharmacy Program...”
That same press release announced that Kroger pharmacies “will no longer be a part of the TRICARE retail pharmacy network.” The 2023 departure of Kroger Pharmacies included:
- Kroger
- Harris Teeter
- Fred Meyer
- Smith’s Food and Drug
- Fry’s Food and Drug
- King Soopers
In 2021, MyMilitaryBenefits reported that TRICARE partnerships with Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies ended when both left the network in 2021. And those weren’t the only retail pharmacies to depart.
Read next: TRICARE Benefits Guide
2022 Departures
In 2022, we reported another story about thousands of rural pharmacies also dropping out of the network over disagreements over pricing. And then there’s the 2022 announcement on the TRICARE official site noting Kroger and its associated brands were also leaving.
DoD officials tried to soften the blow, reminding, “Nearly 90% of TRICARE beneficiaries will continue to have access to at least one retail network pharmacy within 15 minutes of driving or less from their location,” adding, “And almost all beneficiaries” should have access “within 30 minutes of driving or less.”
However, the loss of Kroger and the other brands mentioned above created concern among lawmakers and the veteran community. Would TRICARE still be able to help those in rural areas who lost convenient pharmacy access? How difficult was it for rural veterans and those serving in stateside areas considered more remote to get prescription drug access?
Read next: TRICARE Benefits Guide
Kroger Comes Back to TRICARE
Those issues are softened somewhat by Kroger Pharmacies’ return to the TRICARE fold. They are coming back to offer options as a retail network pharmacy. This means TRICARE beneficiaries pay a network pharmacy co-pay when prescriptions are filled by Kroger.
Kroger Pharmacy is a retail network pharmacy, meaning you’ll pay network pharmacy copayments if you fill your prescriptions there. Kroger returning to TRICARE also means options at other pharmacies that operate under different names under the Krogram brand. Those include:
- Baker’s Pharmacy
- City Market
- Dillons
- Fred Meyer
- Fry’s
- Harris Teeter
- King Soopers
- Mariano’s
- Pick’n Save
- QFC
- Ralphs
- Smith’s
If you are enrolled in TRICARE. use the Find a Pharmacy tool at the official site to find TRICARE network pharmacies near you.
Read next: TRICARE Benefits Guide
(image courtesy Defense Visual Information Service (DVIDS)
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
