I’m trying to gather some more information on this story, so you may see an update later in the day. However, the Montgomery Advertiser is reporting this morning that the City of Montgomery is considering adopting a prescription drug savings card program through CVS/Caremark and the National League of Cities, that by their own analysis doesn’t provide much savings and may actually cost cardholders extra money. What?

In some cases, the “discounted price” with the card was higher than the average over-the-counter cost. Overall, the discount card price for brand names was 4 percent cheaper than the average market price, known as the usual and customary cost, and almost 12 percent higher for generic drugs.

Overall, the discount price for all the prescriptions analyzed in the city’s study was less than 1 percent lower than the usual and customary price.

…

National League of Cities spokesman Gregory Minchak said the findings are in some ways irrelevant to the purpose of the program because the customer should not be charged the higher rate when the program’s price is not the lowest.

“If you present the card, you’re supposed to get the cheapest price,” Minchak said.

But some Montgomery pharmacists said their systems are not able to discern when the discounted price actually is higher than the average consumer price, meaning an uninsured cardholder actually could pay more with the card.

This sounds like one of those things where what is supposed to happen in policy is not possible under real world conditions and the consumer gets sold a bill of goods.

UPDATE: There’s some additional detail in an article out of Opelika about some similar complaints…it seems this may be more about local pharmacies playing politics than it is about the actual effectiveness of the program.

City analysis finds drug program savings minimal | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

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