Instead of cutting pills in half to make them last longer or choosing to pay for medicine instead of meals in order to cope with the high costs of prescription medication, Kaua‘i residents will soon have an option to cut
Instead of cutting pills in half to make them last longer or choosing to pay for medicine instead of meals in order to cope with the high costs of prescription medication, Kaua‘i residents will soon have an option to cut costs.
In the coming months, all residents of Kaua‘i will receive discounts on prescription medication through the Prescription Card Discount Program. National Association of Counties (NACo) President Eric Coleman announced yesterday at a press conference that Kaua‘i County will provide, free of charge, a card enabling discounts to those who use prescription drugs.
“Very seldom do we come across a program that costs the county nothing and the individual nothing,” Coleman said. “Where else can you find something like that? You can’t.”
The NACo drug discount card program was made possible by a partnership between NACo, drug companies and Caremark Rx, Inc., a pharmaceutical services company.
“More than 57,000 pharmacies around the country take the card,” Coleman said. “And at no cost to the county and no cost to the constituents.”
The discount cards, which are not insurance, will help residents save money on prescriptions not covered by insurance. Savings on prescriptions average 20 percent; more or less depending on the drug and quantity purchased. Higher discounts are available on a three-month supply through Caremark’s mail service.
There are no enrollment forms, membership fees or restrictions or limits on frequency of use. The cardholder will pay the negotiated discount price or the retail price of the pharmacy, whichever is lower.
Councilmember Mel Rapozo also announced that all four counties in Hawai‘i have decided to pursue the program.
“In a few months, every resident will have access to this program,” Rapozo said. “I think this is the best thing to come out of NACo.”
Rapozo said the Council alone would have never been able to negotiate a drug discount program with the pharmaceutical companies.
“It’s a program that people will say, ‘It’s too good to be true,’” Councilmember Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho said. “You can use these cards at any pharmacy, even the smaller ones.”
Iseri-Carvalho mentioned Mayor Bryan Baptiste was behind the program 100 percent.
The mayor said this program was made available by the “power of volume.” He congratulated Coleman and NACo for being able to negotiate with drug companies in order to get this program. He also congratulated the Council for spearheading the program.
Baptiste also said that people would need to see how the program works and hear of the benefits through word-of-mouth before it’s accepted.
“Take advantage of things,” Baptiste said. “It’s not very often you get these benefits.”
NACo is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States, with a membership total of 2,291 counties. County officials participate in NACo as board members and annually attend a conference to ratify legislation for urban and rural counties.
The Prescription Card Discount Program was approved by the NACo Board in 2005. Since then, 890 counties have participated in the program, with another 500 interested in participating.
For more information on the prescription drug discount program, go to www.naco.org.
• Rachel Gehrlein, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or rgehrlein@kauaipubco.com.
