How many residents of Carroll County reading this know of someone who does not have a prescription card to use?

As a county government, Carroll belongs to the National Association of Counties, which operates a prescription plan with Caremark to provide prescription cards to citizens needing the service.

As a member of NACo's Board of Directors, I heard about the plan and enrolled Carroll County with the support of our full Board of County Commissioners.

This is a plan that's free to any person living in Carroll County. There is a number on each card, and that number is recorded by the pharmacy you use. Then the number is used to tabulate the money saved on each prescription. As a county, we get reports of money saved -- but it's important to note that we do not have the names of the people using them.

It's private, just between you and the pharmacy. One card will work for each family and even includes pet medications.

The card gives users a savings on prescriptions from 20 to 26 percent off the price they would normally pay. The cards are free to the people and free to the county.

We're trying to spread the word about this service, and I'm hoping the information will get to all the people who need them.

Thankfully, many more pharmacies are giving great discounts on generic drugs, but this service can be used for the medicines you normally pay full price for.

It really does work. Carroll County citizens have saved more than $850,000 on prescriptions over the past two years. Last month alone, $37,454 was saved by 878 people using the card.

I hope more people who need the card will use it -- then tell their friends. As a commissioner, it's good to be able to do something to help the people of Carroll County. For more information and to receive a card, call 410-386-2038.

Julia Walsh Gouge is president of the Board of County Commissioners. Once each month in The Sunday Carroll Eagle, the commissioners use this space to discuss any issue or topic of interest.

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