For Immediate Release – Friday, January 21, 2004
Wilson Health Information finds Prescription Discount Drug Card users satisfied with expected savings.
NEW HOPE, PA – (PR NEWSWIRE) – January 21, 2004 – Wilson Health Information, America's leading pharmacy satisfaction research firm, found that prescription drug discount card users were generally satisfied with expected cost savings. Sixteen percent (16%) of pharmacy customers said they had used a discount card within the past year. Twenty percent of pharmacy customers who reported using a foreign pharmacy also reported that they used a discount card. Detailed card ratings are contained in the new WilsonRx® Report – Consumers Rate Prescription Discount Cards available at www.wilsonrx.com.
Medicare members were the most likely to use a discount card (25%), followed by PPO members who purchased their own insurance (22%), Veteran’s Administration (18%) and Uninsured (17%). Members of TRICARE and employer sponsored HMOs were least likely to use prescription discount cards (9%). Pharmacy customers using Kmart, Wal-mart, Costco and Medicine Shoppe Pharmacies had the highest percentage of customers using prescription discount cards.
Prescription discount cards used most often were Medco Health’s YOURxPLAN, AARP’s Member Choice, TogetherRx, Pfizer Share Card, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Orange Card and Novartis Care Cards. “Pharmacy customers were generally satisfied that they had received the expected savings, although there were significant differences between cards” said Jim Wilson, President of Wilson Health Information. Two of the cards, the Novartis Care and the GSK Orange Cards, have since merged into TogetherRx. The nine manufacturers sponsoring card programs account for 50.1% of 2002 Rx sales, according to IMS Health.
“It is disappointing to see that the government had not acted sooner to provide a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and there are still pharmaceutical manufacturers who have not provided affordable access to patients with low incomes or without prescription coverage,” said Wilson. “Many manufacturers offer programs for low income patients, however, these programs are separate from the discount cards and many only distribute the drugs through their physician or the mail and not through retail pharmacies. Consumers already face an increasingly complicated choice of plans, combining the programs would make it easier to use and give patients access to drug interaction screening, billing assistance and pharmacist counseling.”
Wilson Health Information, LLC, an independent privately owned healthcare consumer research company that provides insight into pharmacy, pharmacy benefit, health insurance and treatment related issues. For more information, contact Jim Wilson at 215-862-4581 or contact us.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE USED FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM WILSON HEALTH INFORMATION, LLC
