Lombard begins offering prescription discount card

The cost of prescriptions for Lombard residents without health insurance may drop thanks to a discount program the village is launching.

The National League of Cities’ prescription discount program cuts the price of medications for people who don’t have insurance, or whose insurance doesn’t cover all their medicines.

“It’s basically out there to give people a break as much as we can on the prescriptions,” Trustee Keith Giagnorio said.

Uninsured residents likely will find the program beneficial because it results in 23 percent average savings from the retail price of prescriptions and can be used at major pharmacies such as Walgreens, CVS, Target and Wal-Mart, said Marc Shapiro, director of corporate programs for the National League of Cities.

“It’s easy to use, it’s free, there’s no personal information required and no enrollment form,” Shapiro said.

In Lombard, Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare at 130 S. Main St., Lombard Pharmacy at 805 S. Main St., and Jewel-Osco’s pharmacy at 1177 S. Main St., also offer discounts through the program.

“The pharmacies are doing it as a service to help those that need it most and knowing that it builds customer loyalty,” Shapiro said. “That’s how it’s able to pay for itself.”

To join the program, residents can pick up a prescription discount card stamped with the Lombard logo at village hall, 255 E. Wilson Ave., or print a paper version from www2.caremark.com/nlc.

Residents don’t need to pay for the discount card or provide any type of personal information. The village also doesn’t pay any additional fees on top of yearly membership dues to the National League of Cities, listed online as $3,813 for a town Lombard’s size.

The village doesn’t have an estimate of how many people have picked up discount cards so far because the program is just getting started, Trustee Greg Gron said. But once it’s been up and running for a full month, statistics will become available.

The league of cities provides a monthly report to each of the 540 towns participating in the program, listing the total number of people who used the discount card, the total savings and average percent savings, Shapiro said. Since the program began in 2009, users have saved $8.5 million nationwide, he said.

Gron said the village has plenty of older residents who may not have health insurance and could save on prescription costs by using the card.

“We have a lot of retirees and elderly that could use a little break,” he said.