Community Corner

City Officials Tout Big Savings With Prescription Drug Discount Card

In the five months since its debut, program has saved New Yorkers $1.5 million on prescription meds.

Here's some good news for Brooklyn residents who regularly use medications to control their diabetes, high blood pressure or an unshakeable addiction to nicotine.

At a press conference Wednesday in front of a Duane Reade on Fulton Mall, Borough President Marty Markowitz called the five-month-old BigAppleRx Prescription Drug Card—the result of a public-private partnership between the city and healthcare management company HealthTrans—a huge success.

Since it was , the discount card has saved New Yorkers $1.5 million in prescription drug costs, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

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Of that total, Brooklyn residents saved $295,000.

"One thing about Brooklyn is that we love a deal. If we see something we like and it's a little cheaper across town, across town we go," Markowitz said. "But when it comes to medications ... we really don't shop. We go to our neighborhood drugstore."

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Markowitz helped Duane Reade employees distribute the card to Fulton Mall shoppers, encouraging them to help get the word out about BigAppleRx's "unbelievable discount."

According to the Health Department, the card provides an average overall savings of 47 percent on prescription meds. For brand name drugs the markdown is 15 percent; for generics, the discount is an average of 53 percent.

"By making prescription drugs more affordable, especially for persons without health insurance or with limited drug coverage, we are assisting more people to live longer and healthier lives through quitting smoking, controlling their blood pressure and managing their diabetes," said Health Department deputy commissioner Dr. Amanda Parsons.

Referring to the continuing national debate over equal access to affordable healthcare, Markowitz vowed to do all he could to make sure every Brooklyn resident had a BigAppleRx Card in their wallet.

"It's a shame that in this city which I love and adore, that's teeming with riches, that there are still millions of people that are prevented from having the life-saving medications they need because they don't have the resources," he said.

For more information on BigAppleRx, visit BigAppleRx.com or call 311. To obtain your own BigAppleRx prescription drug discount card, print out the image included in this article or visit any Duane Reade Drugstore.


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