• Discount Cards Will Offer Average Savings Of 22 Percent Off Retail Price.

Durham, N.C. – Durham County will soon be introducing a prescription discount card program to help consumers cope with the high price of prescriptions. The county has signed a contract to make free prescription discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo) that offers average savings of 22 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs.

The cards, which will be available Monday, March 1, 2010, may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage.  There are 48 pharmacies in the county that will accept the NACo card, and a national network of more than 60,000 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 Gayle Harris, health director for the Durham County Health Department. “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 Durham County to make these money-saving cards available to residents.  A future announcement will specify how and when the program is launched and how residents can obtain the cards. Cards will easily be available via the Internet and through various county locations.

“Using the NACo prescription discount card is easy,” said Harris. “A cardholder will simply present it at a participating pharmacy. There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use.  Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance.”

The program is administered by CVS Caremark.

For more information about the NACo Prescription Discount Card, contact Deborah Craig-Ray, assistant county manager for Communications and spokesperson for Durham County’s NACo Prescription Discount Card program, at 919-560-0000 or via email at dcraig-ray@durhamcountync.gov.   To print a Durham County NACo Prescription Discount Card, visit the Durham County Web site.

About NACO

The National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States. Founded in 1935, NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,068 counties. NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal government, improves the public’s understanding of county government, assists counties in finding and sharing innovative solutions through education and research, and provides value-added services to save counties and taxpayers money. For more information about NACo, visit www.naco.org.