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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COUNTYRE-RELEASESFREE PRESCRIPTION DRUG CARD

Santa Fe– August 22, 2007 – Santa Fe County is re-launching its discount prescription drug program. First released in March, the program ran into setbacks with participating pharmacies and confusion about the program. Since then, the County has worked through those challenges and is moving forward with a full scale re-launch of the program.

The County has signed a contract to make free prescription drug discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo) that offers average savings of 20 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs, including pet medication.

The cards are available to all County residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage. An estimated 85% (23 of 27) of local pharmacies will accept the card, and a national network of more than 57,000 participating retail pharmacies also will honor it.

“The prescription discount card will offer significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county, and even those fortunate to have prescription coverage may use the card to save money on drugs that are not covered by their health plan,” said Santa Fe County Health and Human Services Department Director Steve Shepherd “Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program.”

There will be no cost to county taxpayers for Santa Fe County to make these money-saving cards available to residents.

“Using the prescription discount card is easy,” said Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya “A cardholder will simply present it at a participating pharmacy. There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use. Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance.”

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