The handful of Butler County residents receiving assistance for prescription drugs might soon need to find another source of financial aid.
Due to a drop in participation, Butler County is considering doing away with its Prescription Drug Relief Program for low-income families.
This program has helped Butler County residents save more than $5 million in prescription drug costs since its inception in August 2003, according to Pat Taylor, CEO of Patient Assistance Services.
Taylor said that enrollment in the program has dropped sharply since 2003. In 2006, 31 Butler County residents were enrolled in the program, according to Taylor. This number is lower than usual for the program, and much lower than the inception number in September 2004, which was 425.
The program currently offers prescription drugs at a reduced cost, allowing residents to pay as low as $7 per prescription per month. More than 1,400 brand name and generic prescription medications from more than 100 pharmaceutical companies are available, according to the Ohio Rehabilitation Services government Web site.
Melissa Thomasson, associate professor in the department of economics at Miami University, said Butler County's program, among other programs like Medicare, serves as a source of low-cost drugs for low-income individuals.
Thomasson discussed alternative financial assistance options for the elderly and disabled, who are eligible to receive Medicare benefits from the government.
"People over age 65 could participate in Medicare Part D, which would help with some of their drug costs but would still probably be significantly more expensive than Butler County's program," Thomasson said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Medicare is the government medical assistance program for citizens over age 65 and the disabled, while Medicaid is the government medical assistance program for low-income citizens. Both of these programs can aid in medical costs such as prescription drug costs.
Thomasson also attributed the shortage of participation to a lack of sufficient marketing, and believes this is the primary reason why people are not participating.
To be eligible for the Butler County program, yearly income levels must be less than $16,000 for an individual or $25,000 per couple, according to Donna Everson, community development administrator for Butler County.
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In order to fund the program, Butler County pre-paid for 2,500 slots, which is an individual allotment for prescription drugs, according to Everson.
Patient Assistance Services was granted $100,000 in a Community Development Block Grant from a federal government program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. From this amount, Everson said $50,000 was used for start-up costs and $50,000 for marketing.
Between August 2003 and Feb. 8, 2007, the prescription drug program had assisted a total of 1,018 Butler County residents, of the possible 2,500 spots the county pre-paid for, according to Everson. The county paid for all slots upfront, including ones not being used.
Everson attributed some of the decline in participation in the program to the influx of other prescription drug relief programs and large corporations like Wal-Mart and Meijer, where an individual can obtain a generic prescription for as low as $4. Other drug relief programs in Ohio include Rx for Ohio and the Golden Buckeye Prescription Drug Saving program.
While the program's future is in question, it is not the only source of prescription drug assistance for low-income Oxford residents.
The Oxford Family Resource Center provides financial aid for prescription drugs, according to Mary Jo Clark, Family Resource Center administrator.
Clark said she believes one reason for the use of the Family Resource Center is a lack of knowledge about the Prescription Drug Relief Program.
"I feel that many people don't know about it (the program)," Clark said. "We assist people with prescriptions up to $150 per calendar year here at the Family Resource Center."
The county's contract with the Prescription Drug Relief Program expires this April. Commissioners will decide at that time what the future of the program will be.
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