Drug Discount Program Expands
June 28, 2008 – By John Mariani, Staff Writer
Onondaga County is about to invite 79,000 more households to use a discount prescription drug card.
The county's partner in the program, ProAct Inc., will mail that many Onondaga County Prescription Discount Cards on Monday, Legislature Chairman Bill Meyer said. They'll go to every home in 11 zip codes serving postal customers in Baldwinsville, Cambiums, DeWitt, East Syracuse, Elbridge, Skaneateles, North Syracuse, Westvale and Syracuse's Elmwood, Meadow-Brook and North Side neighborhoods, said Mike Maenza, a ProAct representative.
The cards can bring recipients discounts ranging from 10 to 20 percents on name brand drugs and 20 to 50 percent on generics at any pharmacy in Onondaga County. The new recipients will join 45,000 county households that received the cards in November. Legislature and ProAct officials are expected to announce the new wave at a news conference at 10a.m. today at the Legislature chamber. The cards help residents who are uninsured or have inadequate prescription insurance to better afford medicines they need, Meyer said. Recipients pay nothing to use the cards; they simply present the cards at their pharmacy. Users are kept anonymous.
The Program doesn't cost county taxpayers anything, either. ProAct receives an admissions fee from pharmacies in its network, Maenza said.
In the seven months since the program rolled out, participating county residents have saved $320,000 on prescriptions, saving an average of $18.50 per script or about 31 percent, Maenza said. Usage has grown 10 percent a month since the inception, he said. In May 1,996 cards were used to fill 3,800 prescriptions.
County and ProAct officials also make the cards available at the pharmacies and at county and community social service agencies. Meyer said he and other legislators are working with the town and village leaders to make cards available at municipal centers.