Prescription-drug card offers discounts to Youngstown residents

By William K. Alcorn

YOUNGSTOWN — The city will soon offer its residents a free prescription-drug discount card that can provide an average savings of 20 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs.

The discount cards will be available beginning Friday, said Councilman DeMaine Kitchen, D-Ward 2, who learned of the program at a National League of Cities conference and brought the idea back.

Cards can be obtained at Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County branches in Youngstown City; Associated Neighborhood Centers, 1649 Jacobs Road, and Organizacion Civica y Cultural Americana (OCCHA), 3660 Shirley Road.

Also, Kitchen said, residents can call their council representative for locations in their ward.

The prescription drug program is sponsored by the National League of Cities and administered by CVS Caremark.

The discount card may be used by all Youngstown residents and has no restrictions based on age, income level or existing health coverage, and can be used at some 75 pharmacies around the city and as well as more than 59,000 participating retail pharmacies in the nation, the councilman said.

The cards are available at no cost to the individual and no cost to the city, and the card is easy to use. There is no enrollment form or membership fee of any kind required, he said.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.