The Badger Herald

NEWS

Racine shoots to help drug users save

Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.

Also by Teresa Welsh:

Health costs differ throughout state (December 6, 2007)
Great Dane able to expand beer sales (December 4, 2007)
You owe $3,500: Debt continues to rise (November 29, 2007)
Petri secures state transport funding (November 26, 2007)
Professors know what you REALLY did last summer... (November 20, 2007)

by Teresa Welsh

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Racine County in southeastern Wisconsin started a program this week to help county residents get as much as 33 percent off the price of prescription drugs.

According to a Racine County release, prescription drug discount cards are available through a program run by the National Association of Counties, an organization that lobbies for county interests in Washington, D.C.

County residents enrolled in the program can obtain a discount card for free at a municipal building and use it at one of the 57,000 participating pharmacies nationwide. Residents do not have to fill out any forms or present any type of identification — they are immediately granted a card.

"When people pick up the card, they just pick up the card. Their name is not on the card. We don't keep a record of who gets them. We don't ask to see anything," said Andrea Bumpurs, grant writer for Racine County. "There're no qualifications for taking a card. You just take one."

Those with prescription drug insurance are also encouraged to take a card, according to Jim Philipps, media relations manager for NACo. They can use the card on drugs not covered by their insurance plan, although the card does not provide further discounts to a drug already reduced in price by insurance coverage.

According to Philipps, the program began in 2004 with 17 member counties participating in a pilot prescription drug discount card program. NACo declared it a success, and in May 2005 the program was offered to all NACo member counties. Currently, 883 counties are participating and $50.6 million has been saved on 4.62 million prescriptions filled.

According to Bumpurs, the program does not cost anything to Racine County. The price reductions are negotiated with pharmacies and drug companies through Caremark, a health benefits provider.

"The discount is not coming from local county taxpayers. It's not coming from the county. It's not coming from NACo. It's not coming from federal government. It's a negotiated discount," Philipps said.

Philipps added many drug companies benefit from participating in this program.

"Drug companies like to enter into agreements like this because they like to sell drugs, and doing it through Caremark and an organization like NACo, they get to move more product," Philipps said. "The pharmacies like the discount program because, if they make the NACo card available to their customers, they're more likely to go those pharmacies to purchase their drugs."

The savings for a consumer range from 13 to 33 percent per prescription, Philipps said. Counties get a monthly report detailing how much money was saved and how many people used the cards. No individual data is recorded, Bumpurs said.

Of the 3,066 counties in the United States, 2,200 pay dues to be members of NACo. Philipps said he wants to see this program expand to include all counties.

"Eventually, we'd like every NACo member county to be participating in the program because there's no cost to the local tax payer," Philipps said. "It's free and easy to use. It's NACo's most successful program and we hope more [counties] get on board."

Dane County is a member of NACo, but it is not currently participating in the prescription drug discount card program. George Twigg, spokesperson for Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said it is not currently being considered.

Add a comment

We welcome your thoughts, but please keep your feedback thoughtful, on-topic and respectful. Offensive language, personal attacks, or irrelevant comments may be deleted.