Albany County residents to save with new drug card
By: Danielle Sanzone The Troy Record
February 9, 2010
Albany
The county Legislature approved a law Monday that will send about 167,000 prescription drug cards, which could save Albany County residents between 10 and 70 percent on their medications.
“This will mean real savings. I want to stress that people should look for these cards in their mail and not throw them away. This is not junk mail,” said Legislator Sean Morse, D-Cohoes.
The cards can be used at most pharmacies in the county and about 56,000 participating drug stores nationwide.
The prescription drug card is being administered through ProAct, a pharmacy benefit management company. ProAct’s Web site, proactrx.com, also allows for these cards to be printed and it states that there is an average savings on prescription drugs of 39 percent.
Card holders can save about 10 to 20 percent for name-brand drugs and 20 to 70 percent on generic drugs, officials said.
Craig Burridge of Waterford, the executive director for the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, said the savings will mainly come out of the local pharmacies pockets since the will pay a fraction of what is actually owed toward the medication and the remainder is usually never paid in full to the pharmacy.
“ProAct is making some serious money on this,” said Burridge giving an example of a drug which was around $400 and a PBM paid $12 for it since their contracts do not state that they have to pay the full price. “The discounts make it look good but it may not be that great, actually.”
Burridge also noted that prescription drug costs are sometimes increased up to 650 percent, so a 70 percent discount on that is a drop in the bucket.
“These discount cards are a laugh,” he said.
John McDonald, a Cohoes pharmacist at Marra’s and mayor of the Spindle City, said that he was still in favor of the cards.
“There is no doubt that the savings are coming from the pharmacies, but the pharmacies choose to the support the card programs for a reason,” he said. “Marra’s is a participant. If anything, these cards bring people to the pharmacies and give us an opportunity to look at their health care options.”
Similar programs are in place in Schenectady County and others in the state.
Morse said he was planning to go around in his district in Cohoes to pass out the cards this week. He said he has 800 to give out.
“The price of prescription drugs is out of control,” Morse continued. “This is about helping people who are struggling.”