Discount Cards Will Offer Average Savings of 22 Percent off Retail Price
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (March 02, 2010)—St. Mary's County is introducing a prescription discount card program to help consumers cope with the high price of prescriptions. The county has signed a contract to make free prescription discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo) that offers average savings of 22 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs.
The cards may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage. There are many pharmacies in the county that will accept the NACo card, and a national network of more than 60,000 participating retail pharmacies also will honor it.
"The NACo prescription discount card will offer significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county, and even those fortunate to have prescription coverage may use the card to save money on drugs that are not covered by their health plan," said Jack Russell, President, Board of County Commissioners for St. Mary's County. "Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program."
There will be no cost to county taxpayers for St. Mary's County to make these money-saving cards available to residents. Cards are now available at all St. Mary's County Libraries, Senior Activity Centers, Department of Human Services and are also available via the Internet by logging on to http://caremark.com/naco/.
"Using the NACo prescription discount card is easy," said Cynthia Brown, acting director, Human Services Department. "A cardholder will simply present it at a participating pharmacy. There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use. Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance."
The program is administered by CVS Caremark.