Free prescriptions will be available to more seniors

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 10:45 a.m.

CARS0N CITY -- More seniors will be able to get free prescription insurance coverage from the state because of recently negotiated lower premiums.

The state had planned to limit the program to 6,000 and create a waiting list for the Senior Rx program after that point was reached. The 3-year-old program had its 6,000th signup this month.

But negotiations with the private company that runs the program lowered the $106 per person monthly cost to the state, Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Human Resources, said this morning.

Seniors pay only a co-payment of $10 for a generic drug and $25 for a nongeneric drug for each prescription. The maximum benefit is $5,000 per year per senior.

State officials were not sure this morning how many more seniors could be covered.

The final contracts have not been signed yet, so officials don't know the final cost, Willden said. In addition, his department needs to see how much the state will receive from the tobacco settlement in April to determine how much money will be available in the coming year, Willden said.

Part of the tobacco settlement pays for the Senior Rx program. The payments from the settlement are based in part on national sales. The last payment to the state was lower than anticipated, Willden said.

Jane Smedes, who manages the program for the Human Resources Department, said 44 percent of the seniors enrolled are from Clark County, 37 percent from rural Nevada and 19 percent from Washoe County.