KITTANNING -- Armstrong County Commissioners announced Thursday that the county has joined a prescription drug program that provides residents the opportunity to save money every time they go to the pharmacy.
The new discount drug card program will provide an average discount of 20 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs at local pharmacies, county officials said.
"Just take the card to the pharmacy, they run it through the system and they tell you what's available to you as a discount," said Sara Droddy, the county's chief clerk.
Armstrong County is able to provide the discount prescription cards free of charge to residents of the county by participating in a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo).
Droddy said the program is funded through rebates between the pharmacies and drug companies.
"The best part of the program is there is no cost to county taxpayers for Armstrong County and NACo to make this money-saving discount drug card available to our residents," said Commissioner Jim Scahill.
As a member of NACo, Armstrong County pays an annual membership fee of about $1,600.
Scahill said there are 3,067 counties in the country and about 2,300 belong to NACo. There are about 600 counties in the country, 11 in Pennsylvania, that opted to participate in the discount card program, he said.
"A lot of counties saw there was a gap," Scahill said.
The discount cards can be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income or existing health coverage.
A national network of more than 57,000 participating retail pharmacies will honor the NACo prescription discount cards.
The commissioners said they are proud that Armstrong County is one of the counties nationwide that chose to participate and sign an agreement with NACo.
"The NACo prescription discount card offers significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county and even residents with prescription coverage can use the card to save money on drugs not covered by their health plan," said Commissioner Chairwoman Patty Kirkpatrick. "You do not have to be a Medicare beneficiary to be eligible for this program."
Scahill added that the cards can be applied to pet prescriptions as well.
The cards are ready to be picked up at the county administration building, the Area Agency on Aging, senior centers, the Armstrong County Health Center, Children, Youth and Family Services and the county jail.
"The NACo prescription card is easy to use," said Commissioner Rich Fink. "There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no limits on the frequency of use. Just present the card at a participating pharmacy."
Participants can call toll free at 1-877-321-2652 or visit the Web site at https:naco.advancerx.com for assistance with the program or for a list of participating pharmacies at http://naco.org.
