Utah Drug Card Media Center

The Salt Lake Chamber is offering Utahns free prescription-drug assistance cards that cut drug bills by an average of 30 percent.

"We've opened it to the entire community [of Utah], and we've done that because it provides an opportunity for Utahns to have discounted access to pharmaceuticals in a convenient way. And it's supporting of our overall health goals," said the chamber's chief operating officer, Natalie Gochnour.

The Utah Drug Card provides savings as high as 75 percent on generics and up to 50 percent on name-brand medicines, said Francesco Ciccone, executive vice president of United Networks of America, which administers the program.

The program has no restrictions on membership, income requirements or age limitations, and there no applications to fill out. The card is a lifeline for people without insurance. It's also useful to people whose health insurance coverage excludes prescription benefits. And it can be used to purchase prescription drugs that aren't covered by insurance policies.

What it doesn't do is reduce out-of-pocket co-payments for drugs covered by insurance.

The card can be used at more than 56,000 pharmacies across the country.

The program is funded by numerous pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies. Restat, a prescription benefits management company, is the biggest donor, Ciccone said.

At least 35 chambers of commerce, including the Denver chamber and the statewide Oregon chamber, offer similar programs, he said.

How to get the card:
It can be downloaded from the chamber's Web site, www.saltlakechamber.org. On the right side of the home page, click on a link sandwiched between advertisements for Intermountain Healthcare and the U.S. Census Bureau.