BetterRxCard helps McLennan County residents save on prescription drugs

BetterRxCard, the free prescription discount card sponsored by McLennan County, today announced the program has saved $138,562 for McLennan County residents during its initial six months.  "Anything we can do to assist in reducing or deferring the costs to our citizens we are glad to participate in," said McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis.

The card was presented 7,285 times at 29 pharmacies in the county. It provided a discount 4,961 times and an average monthly savings per prescription of $23.29; good for a 43% discount. 1.6 claims per month, per cardholder, yielded a $35 average monthly savings. Additional card uses at many of the 26 pharmacies in Bell County, 8 in Coryell County, and as far away as Dallas, Las Vegas, NV and Pittsburgh, PA, were not counted in these totals. Over 60,000 pharmacies nationwide participate in the BetterRxCard program.

The balance of the savings came from EquivaMeds, a free feature of the prescription drug card that helps reduce the cost on many brand name medications by finding suitable, lower-cost options. The average monthly savings found with EquivaMeds was over $60, nearly 3 times more than the discount card alone.

"In the first 20 days of October nearly 1,500 people have tried the BetterRxCard in McLennan County versus around 300 in the initial three weeks of the launch back in April," said David Smith, program manager. "While the number of residents using the card is increasing monthly, we estimate there are over 30,000 residents in the county that could benefit from it so we've got more work ahead of us," he said.

Genuity Group, the firm that manages the BetterRxCard program for the county, recently expanded local pickup locations to include Caritas locations in Waco, Bellmead and West, the Salvation Army, the YMCA and the EOAC. Interested parties may also obtain the free card at many area pharmacies and county offices; nearly 80 card pickup locations around the county. More information about McLennan County prescription discount cards is available at http://www.betterrxcard.com/mclennan/ where visitors may also go to print cards online.

In addition to McLennan County, BetterRxCard recently became available in Brazoria County, Texas where the card may also be used at 1,000 regional pharmacies in Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Harris Counties among others.