Published: May 15, 2008 11:54 am         

County to offer prescription card

Cass County will soon be introducing a discount card program to help consumers cope with the high price of prescription drugs.

The county has signed a contract to make free prescription drug discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties that offers average savings of 20 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs.

The cards, which will be available in the next two weeks, may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income or existing health coverage. An estimated 90 percent of the county’s pharmacies will accept the card, and a national network of more than 57,000 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 Commissioner Dave Arnold, in a news release. “Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program.”

There will be no cost to county taxpayers for NACo and Cass County to make these money-saving cards available to residents. A future announcement will specify how and when residents may obtain the cards.