By: Soo Asheim

New Century Press

In 2010, Americans spent $307.4 billion on prescription drugs, according to a recent report from consulting firm IMS Health. This is an enormous portion of the U.S. economy to be spending on prescription medications, many of which are ineffective at best and woefully dangerous at worst.

According to Reuters, the decline in spending was due, at least in part, to a greater number of patients using generic medications. Visits to doctors also declined in 2010, as did the number of patients seeking new treatment for chronic illnesses. Because of a slow economy, high unemployment rates, and the loss of insurance coverage, Americans are forced to be more careful when it comes to spending money on healthcare and prescribed medications.

Thirty percent of all prescriptions in 2010 were filled through Medicaid or a Medicare Part D plan. More recent numbers indicate more Americans are dependent on some level of government assistance in order to be able to afford their medications.

According to a 2008 pharmaceutical companies’ sales report, seven out of the top fifteen companies manufacturing prescribed medications were American companies. The remaining eight were manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Germany, Japan and Switzerland, with Switzerland and the United Kingdom each with two in the top sales figures.

In 2010 the Centers for Disease Control reported that nearly one half of Americans are using a prescribed medication, but are not necessarily healthier. Nonetheless, money spent on prescribed medications continues to flow like the Red River in spring. Diabetes and high blood pressure levels top the charts for the most widely used medications, and it is not unusual for a diabetic to be on five different medications daily.

For people on the lower end of the economic scale who have life-long chronic diseases, the ever-rising cost of medication is often the cause of workers leaving lower-paying jobs, only to turn toward government social programs that will provide medical care and assistance with prescriptions at far more affordable prices. More often than not, lower-paying jobs do not offer insurance with prescription benefit plans. For many older citizens, it can mean eventual bankruptcy.

Understanding that those with chronic conditions or life-threatening illnesses need daily medications to help them continue, a number of states have joined forces with dozens of pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to help both the uninsured and the underinsured to afford their prescriptions for those medications.

In both Minnesota and North Dakota, a new program called the FREE Discount Prescription Drug Card Program is now available by the United Networks of America, a provider of managed-care products and services. Information about what the program offers can be found online. It is a fairly easy sign-up for the program that can offer as much as 30 percent savings off of many retail-priced prescriptions in pharmacies throughout at least twenty-two states to date, with more expecting to come on board any time. Many of our regional pharmacies are participating: Kmart, CVS, Hy-Vee, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, US Drug, White Drug, Pamida, a few “independent” pharmacies, and several more chain pharmacies.

This is a program that is virtually open to everyone. The program can be accessed by people who have health benefits but no prescription benefits, or by people who do not qualify for public-funded programs such as Medicaid or Medicare. Patients who have medical insurance coverage may use it also, but they may not use both discounts for a single prescription.

There are no restrictions or participation requirements. The UNA program is open to all residents. All drugs are included with the program’s “open formulary” and another called “on-the-fly enrollment” that requires no eligibility or waiting requirements for a prescription to be filled. This is a program with no “accept for” rules, such as no exclusions, or for pre-existing conditions. The program is used especially by people who have health insurance and extremely high deductibles, who have no prescription benefits, or who have lifetime limits on their policies.

This first and main intent of the program was to help people afford prescription medications. It is now being recognized as a “two-way street” that works to benefit pharmacies by keeping customers from going to mail-order and on-line pharmacies, by creating new customers who will come into the stores, and by helping consumers pay for their medical prescriptions. The obvious larger prescriptions’ savings will be on generic prescriptions. Some can be as much as seventy-five percent.

United Networks runs the plan through its pharmacy-benefit management division, UNA Rx Card, which is much like any other pharmacy benefit plan used by employers and labor unions.

For more information on how to create a North Dakota discount prescription card, go to:

http://www.northdakotarxcard.com/index.php

For Minnesota go to:

http://www.mndrugcard.com/index.php

And to check out and compare prescription drug prices for any prescription you need:

https://www.reportal.restat.com/xpertrx/drugPrices