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State Will Offer Prescription Drug Discount Cards

News Channel 8 photo by WALLY PATANOW

Gov. Charlie Crist made the announcement at a Publix in Clearwater today.

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By MICHAEL SASSO of The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

Updated: 12/20/2007 08:26 pm

CLEARWATER - CLEARWATER - Florida's new discount drug card should lessen the cost of prescription drugs for up to 3.8 million uninsured Floridians and fill in gaps for those covered by Medicare, Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday during a trip to Clearwater.

Under the new Florida Discount Drug Card program, 3,000 pharmacies in the state will provide pharmaceuticals at a discounted price to seniors without prescription drug coverage or who are in the so-called Medicare coverage gap. People under the age of 60 who are low-income, but don't qualify for Medicaid and lack drug coverage, also are eligible for a drug card.

Crist stopped by a Clearwater Publix supermarket Thursday to unveil his new program along with Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Andrew Agwunobi and Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth. While savings will vary by drug, savings on the most commonly prescribed medicines will range from 5 percent to 42 percent, Crist said. Both brand-name and generic drugs are in the program.

Floridians who plan to use the new drug card need to check to see if their pharmacy is participating. A check of the program's Web site shows most of the state's big retail pharmacy and grocery chains are participating, including CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Publix, Sweetbay, Winn-Dixie and Albertsons. The Web site also lists what drugs are covered.

Elements of the drug card plan include:

Eligibility requirements. Under the plan, individuals qualify if they are 60 or older and have no prescription drug coverage, or if they are in the Medicare drug coverage gap. People under 60 may qualify if their annual income is less than 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level and they lack prescription drug coverage.

Qualifying income levels for people under 60 are: up to $30,636 a year for an individual; $41,076 a year for a family of two; and $61,956 for a family of four.

Discounted price. The plan will be administered by Envision Pharmaceutical Services, a pharmacy benefits manager based in Ohio. Envision manages a similar program for the state of Ohio. Chris Kise, a former in-house counsel for Crist who negotiated the plan, said Envision can receive big discounts from drug companies for buying in bulk. It will then pass those discounts on to Floridians holding the drug cards, he said.

Program members will pay a one-time $1.50 charge for the cost of the plastic card which they will receive. As payment for running the program, Envision will receive $1.50 for every prescription that a plan member has filled. For example, a person with no prescription drug coverage currently pays $160 for a 30-day supply of the heartburn medicine Prevacid.

Under the Florida Discount Drug Card program, that same person would pay $95 for a 30-day supply of Prevacid. Envision would receive $1.50 of that amount, Kise said.

Lowest price applies. On occasion, pharmacies may offer a lower price than that offered under the new drug card program. In such a case, the customer would pay the lower price, according to a news release from Crist's office.

During a morning news conference, Butterworth said those Floridians who are low-income but still make too much money to qualify for Medicaid will benefit. Every month, 125,000 people contact the state inquiring about Medicaid eligibility. More than 34,000 of them are turned away because they make too much money, he said.

Several retailers have debuted discount generic drug programs in recent years, including Wal-Mart's $4 generic program. However, Ronda Russick, an executive at the St. Petersburg Free Clinic, which treats up to 600 patients a month, said the new program goes beyond those others because it provides discounts on brand names, too.

Low-income people struggle with medicine costs, because some cardiac drugs run $100 a month. It's not unusual for a single patient to need drugs for hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol, Russick said.

Representatives of Envision Pharmaceutical Services did not return calls Thursday. Kise, who left the governor's office and now works for the Foley & Lardner law firm, said he doesn't know how much money Envision will make off the drug card program. The company's contract with Florida also doesn't make clear Envision's potential revenues.

On Thursday, Kise and Agwunobi, the AHCA secretary, said the program will not cost the state money. Rather, the company's money will come from the $1.50 fee on every prescription. Kise said the contract to administer the state program was not competitively bid, because no state money is being used.

The Tribune asked Kise whether another pharmacy benefits manager might have been able to secure a better deal for Floridians. For example, another company might have agreed to a $1.25 fee on every prescription, rather than $1.50. Kise said that while the contract was not competitively bid, no other pharmacy benefits managers or retail chains showed an interest or an ability to beat Envision's fee.

The government also would be open to hearing competing offers in the future, he said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

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