Residents of Owen
County may now be able to pay less for their prescriptions.
Effective Sept. 1, all Kentucky counties became a part of the
Kentucky Association of Counties, or KACo. KACo is part of the
National Association of Counties (NACo) and, as part of the
partnership, it allows prescription discount cards to be distributed
to anyone who may need them.
Judge-Executive Billy O’Banion signed the necessary paperwork
in October to allow Owen County to take part in the program.
The cards will be available in his office, as well as Three
Rivers District Health Department and the local participating
pharmacies: North Park and Morgan & Thomas.
O’Banion ordered 6,000 cards and expects them to arrive
before the end of the year.
“Anyone is eligible,” he said. “It is a good
straight-forward prescription drug discount program that will
hopefully help folks. It might save you $4; it might save you
50 percent.”
The plan is free, as KACo has paid every county’s dues
to be a part of NACo. There are currently 92 counties in Kentucky
that have signed up to participate, according to Bob Arnold,
executive director-CEO of KACo.
“As of last week, there was an average savings of (about)
25 percent on prescription drugs,” Arnold said.
While there is no guarantee that the plan will offer savings
on all prescriptions, Arnold said a lower price is given 86
percent of the time when the card is presented. The cards do
not offer savings on co-pays.
There are more than 1,000 pharmacies in Kentucky using the plan.
Locally, both North Park Pharmacy and Morgan & Thomas Pharmacy
are participating.
Todd Toole, owner of Morgan & Thomas, said he received information
about the discount plan and he sees it helping people, though
it may hurt the pharmacy’s profits.
“If people have no insurance, they can save 30 to 50 percent
on generic purchases,” Toole said.
Matthew Cull is a pharmacist at North Park. He said he has seen
discount plans in the past, and that they give a percentage
off the price that they would not normally.
Arnold said that if local pharmacies do not participate, people
will go to pharmacies that do to be able to use the discount
plan.
“It’s not a cure-all, but I think it’s something
to help people get as much savings on prescriptions as they
can,” Arnold said, “so they can spend their money
on other things.”
For more information about NACo, call (877) 321-2652 or visit
their Web site at www.naco.advancerx.com.
