Public to get help obtaining prescriptions

Monday, Dec. 1, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A new program to help low-income families and senior citizens obtain prescription drugs either free or at a reduced cost was to be unveiled today in Las Vegas.

The state Office of Consumer Health Assistance, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, planned to kick off the program today.

Buckley authored the bill in the Legislature to establish the prescription help desk in the Consumer Health Assistance Office to provide information to Nevadans about free or low-cost prescription drugs available from the drug industry.

"This assistance has been available from pharmaceutical companies for some time, but people are not aware of these services," Buckley said. "This help desk will be a clearinghouse for both information and applications."

Buckley said the program is designed primarily to help those without insurance or whose insurance does not cover certain drugs.

She said the overhaul of the Medicare drug program does "not in any way lessen the need to find ways now to help seniors and others with the cost of prescription drugs."

She said the federal act does not become fully effective until 2006.

"Nevada's seniors and families need help now," she said. "The skyrocketing cost of medicine affects not only our senior citizens but also young workers and families. This is an issue that affects middle-income Nevadans as well as those on fixed incomes struggling to make ends meet."