Drug discounts open to all

There’s a new way for people who don’t have prescription drug insurance to save money on their medications.

The Washington Prescription Drug Program, announced Monday, has free signups for any state resident. It offers discounts at 400 pharmacies statewide, including those at Albertsons, QFC and Safeway stores.

For anyone without prescription drug coverage, the new drug plan “will be of tremendous help,” said Ken Green, executive director of the nonprofit Community Health Center of Snohomish County.

Savings are estimated at 20 percent for brand-name medications and up to 60 percent for generic drugs.

People can sign up for the plan online or call a toll-free number for information. They will receive their discount card in about two weeks.

Although anyone can join the program, it is aimed at people who don’t have help paying for prescription drugs through insurance plans.

An estimated 800,000 people statewide don’t have health insurance. That number doesn’t include those who have health insurance but not prescription drug benefits, said AARP lobbyist Lauren Moughon, who participated in a statewide group that drew up the new plan.

The program is in the process of contacting independent and community pharmacies about participating.

“It’s something I’ll review when I get it,” said Teri Ferreira, pharmacy director at The Everett Clinic, which fills about 175,000 prescriptions a year.

In 2005, the Legislature approved a bill calling for a statewide drug discount plan, but it included a $10 annual fee and the discounts were not as big as what is now offered.

It soon became clear that “it wasn’t good enough,” Moughon said. “We knew we wanted to do something better.”

What they discovered, she said, is that “Oregon, by far, had the best program.” So an advisory committee working with Washington State Health Care Authority, which provides health benefits for state employees, went to Oregon to learn more about its plan.

“We decided to pool our purchasing,” Moughon said, to provide the biggest discounts possible to people in both states without prescription drug benefits.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, who announced the program in Olympia on Monday, said officials in other states are calling to learn how Washington and Oregon teamed up for what is believed to be the only multistate program of its kind in the nation.

The program is open to any person regardless of age or income, she said. Citizenship is not required, but people must live in Washington or Oregon to participate.

Gregoire said the program’s discounts on generic and brand-name drugs are as good as any in the nation. “We are probably not going to get deeper discounts,” she said. “This is a dramatic step forward.”

Information on the program is expected to be sent soon to medical clinics and related groups such as the Washington State Medical Association, said Duane Thurman, director of the state health care authority’s prescription drug plan.

“We hope to flood the state with information and application forms,” Thurman said.

Pharmacies participate voluntarily, he said. The price of the same drug may vary at different pharmacies, even though both participate in the plan.

While the card provides discounts on the price of prescriptions, pharmacies can add dispensing fees of $2 to $8.

The card could be used by people who have hit initial annual spending limits, commonly known as the “doughnut hole,” on Medicare prescription drug plans. But they would have to keep receipts of each purchase to document their out-of-pocket costs, Moughon said.

People who already have insurance for prescription drugs “probably don’t have a need for this card,” Moughon said. But for those without prescription drug insurance, it “will be a good deal.”