Wednesday, September 13, 2006

By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
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A billfold-sized card will allow Clark County residents to save an average of 21 percent on some prescription drugs.

County commissioners agreed Tuesday to enroll in a prescription discount program offered through the National Association of Counties.

Their decision will add Clark County to a list of 450 counties nationwide participating in the two-year-old program.

Residents who lack health insurance can use the program to purchase prescription drugs at discount prices. Those with insurance can receive discounts on medications not covered by their policies.

Bill Barron, county administrator, said the program sounded too good to be true.

"You look at this, and there isn't anything wrong," Barron told commissioners Tuesday. "It is free and it works."

Barron said county officials examined the program after Commissioner Betty Sue Morris brought back information from a National Association of Counties meeting.

There are no income or age requirements and no limits on how many times the cards can be used. The program will be open to all county residents, not just those in county-sponsored programs.

Maureen Taylor, health educator with Clark County Public Health, said officials hope to have the program up and running in November.

"We will be ordering probably about 70,000 (cards) to have available and distributing them to multiple sites in the county," she said.

Andrew Goldschmidt, director of membership marketing for the National Association of Counties, said discounts range from 13 percent to 34 percent, with an average savings of 21.3 percent.

"You don't need to apply, you don't need to enroll," he said. "You just pick up the card and you can go use it immediately."

Goldschmidt was reluctant to provide an average dollar savings per prescription because of the wildly divergent costs of medications.

"I just heard from someone this morning who saved over a thousand dollars on a cancer drug," he said Tuesday.

Nine out of every 10 pharmacies participate in the program, including Walgreens, other major chains and most independents, Goldschmidt said.

"I am harder pressed to find a pharmacy that doesn't participate rather than one that does," he said.

Goldschmidt said the program began in November 2004 as a pilot project in 17 counties ranging in population from 800 to 900,000. The pilot project was so successful that the association's board of directors decided in spring 2005 to make it available to all of its member counties, he said.

So far, participants have saved $12.5 million on 1.1 million prescriptions, he said.

The biggest county participating in the program is Maricopa County, Ariz., home to 3.6 million people in the Greater Phoenix area.

Three Washington counties Snohomish, Walla Walla and Whitman already participate in the program. Clark and King counties are on the association's list of 480 counties that are considering signing up.

"I'm getting contacts daily," Goldschmidt said. "The program has been very successful. It's really a turnkey program that doesn't cost any taxpayer dollars."

The National Association of Counties works with Caremark Rx Inc., a Nashville, Tenn.-based Fortune 500 corporation, that negotiates with both manufacturers and pharmacists to lower costs, Goldschmidt said.

"We do not make any money on the program, nor does the county that implements it," Goldschmidt said.

Clark County officials believe that the public's cost will be negligible, less than $1,000 for administration, community outreach and Internet-telephone information. The program will cover the cost of producing the prescription discount cards.

According to the agreement between the National Association of Counties and Caremark, the company would not charge a "per claim" fee for services.

Instead, Caremark will keep all rebates its receives from drug manufacturers as compensation. The contract says Caremark also may receive fees and other compensation, "without limitation," from manufacturers.

By the numbers

* 70,000 cards to be available.

* 13% to 34% The range of discounts, with an average savings of 21.3%.

* Nine out of every 10 pharmacies participate in the program, including Walgreens, other major chains and most independents.

* $12.5 million saved so far on 1.1 million prescriptions.