Discount cards aid locals with cost of medicine

A free prescription drug discount card covering medication not handled by insurance will soon become available to all Terrebonne Parish residents at participating pharmacies in the parish.

The National Association of Counties is sponsoring the card. Terrebonne Parish is a member of the association. Caremark Rx, a pharmaceutical services firm, is administering the drug discount program.

When it is issued, the card can be obtained at pharmacies and at some public buildings in the parish, such as Terrebonne Council on Aging facilities and parish council offices.

Participation in the program requires filling out no enrollment form and paying no membership fee.

The program has no age or income restrictions.

The Terrebonne Parish Council’s Policy, Procedure and Legal Committee passed a resolution at its April 7 meeting to distribute the card. The parish was not required to pay a fee to the association to participate in the program.

Cardholders save an average of 20 percent when using the card, according to Caremark. The company contracts with pharmacies, which offer the discount. Most pharmacies participate because the program attracts customers to the stores, according to an information sheet posted on the company’s Web site.

Cardholders pay the discounted medication price or the pharmacy’s regular price, whichever is lower.

A spokesperson for Caremark said the company receives no reimbursement from pharmacies when the card is used.

However, the information sheet states that pharmacies pay Caremark a small fee on each transaction.

Terrebonne Parish Council-woman Arlanda Williams said that pharmacies at Wal-Mart and Target stores are participating in the program.

“You just pick up the card,” Williams said. “It’s placed at each individual pharmacy that participates.”

David Battard, director of the parish’s Risk Management and Human Resources Department, told the committee the parish signed a two-year, four-month contract with the National Association of Counties to distribute the card.

Battard said Terrebonne Parish will have a large responsibility distributing the card and handling questions about the program.

He also told the committee a cost-benefit analysis of the savings derived from using the card did not show whether the average amount saved was 20 percent on each transaction.