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Commissioners approve county prescription card

Upshur County Commissioners, at their meeting Monday (June 30), voted to join the National Association of Counties Prescription Drug Card Program.

They took the action after hearing Marc Hamlin, Brazos County District Clerk and immediate past president of the Texas Association of Counties (TAC).

He explained how the card had benefited Brazos County residents.

Hamlin said that most pharmacies, large and small, in Brazos County honored the NACO card, which gives an immediate 20 percent discount off the top on the cost of prescription medicines. He said that if a person is covered by an insurance presciption plan, they may use whichever gives them the biggest discount on a particular medicine.

All residents of Upshur County would be eligible to get and use the card, not just county employees.

He said those who don’t have other insurance or who are fixed incomes especially appreciate it.

The card is presented at the time the presciption is paid for.

In one time period, Brazos County residents saved $32,461 on about 1,400 prescriptions. He said that saved more than some counties with 10 to 15 times Brazos County’s population of about 160,000, because the public, civic organizations and businesses all got behind the plan.

In the last six months, Brazos County residents have saved $118,000 with the card.

The card contains phone numbers and web addresses where a person can find a participating number, and other information to help find what a particular medication will cost with the card.

Hamlin said that some drug store owners and operators initially thought the card would cost into their profits, but they had found that their business actually increased, because the discount brought more traffic into their stores and they ended up selling more other items.

He said NACO is also checking into adding an optical and dental benefit to card.

After commissioners unanimously approved getting the card for Upshur residents, Judge Dean Fowler said he would go to work on the contract, and it would be eight to 10 weeks before county is completely enrolled in the program.

The commissioners also approved a request from the Upshur County District Attorney’s Office to get a copy of the Pictometry System from the Upshur County Appraisal District.

DA’s investigator Jon Warren told commissioners that the almost 3-dimensional aerial photo system used by UCAD would help in his crime scene investigations and save him having to go up in a plane and take his own aerial photos at property which was the site of crimes.

During public comments, Helena Harvey claimed that county indigent services officer Mike Loyd had been rude and had “flat out” lied her when she tried to get help for her mother. She called on commissioners to terminate Loyd.

Loyd, who was not at the meeting, told The Mirror that he could not comment on the case because of privacy issues.

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