The Schuylkill United Way began supporting this program in April of 2008. 

Since then county residents saved a total of over $1,000,000!

If you don’t have health insurance, or you must buy medicine not covered by your insurance plan, a discount card is being distributed by the Schuylkill United Way which could lower the cost of your medicine by an average of 40 percent.  The Schuylkill United Way provides these cards to our community free-of-charge to everyone who needs one.  There are no age restrictions, no income restrictions, no limit on how many times you can use it and no waiting to get a card. 

"We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people in our community to save on prescription drugs.  Too many people have insufficient or no prescription coverage or need medications not covered by their insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits.” said Kelly K. Malone, Executive Director of the Schuylkill United Way.

Healthcare costs are one of the top concerns for people in our community and the FamilyWize prescription drug discount cards will help individuals and families who otherwise could not afford to buy the medicine they need. One out of every five people in the United States has no prescription coverage.

Schuylkill United Way has joined with 600 United Ways in all 50 states in lowering the cost of prescription medication for people who need help with their prescription costs. This partnership is already helping people save almost $2 million per month with a goal of saving $100 million over the next 5 years.  So far, more than 6 million cards have been distributed. There is more information on the program’s website at www.FamilyWize.org, such as a tool to look up drug prices, participating pharmacies and print additional cards for family, friends and co-workers.

The FamilyWize cards are accepted at most pharmacies here and throughout the United States.

“It’s truly amazing what we can accomplish when we all work together. So many people and organizations have joined together to make this possible” said Malone.

The participating pharmacies in the community have agreed voluntarily to accept the FamilyWize cards and provide these savings to people in need.  Two Pennsylvania printers, Independent Graphics of Pittston, PA and Brown Printing of Bethlehem, PA, have donated the printing for the cards, Fed Ex Express donates the shipping of the cards and the pharmacy benefit manager provides a portion of the processing to cover the administrative costs.  Schuylkill United Way is coordinating the distribution of the cards locally.

“We hope everyone in the community will thank their pharmacist, Schuylkill United Way, and everyone else involved for the difference they are making in the lives of so many people in the community,” said Dan Barnes, Co-Chair, The FamilyWize Community Service Partnership.

ABOUT THE FAMILYIZE PARTNERSHIP

The FamilyWize community service partnership was established in 2005 and coordinated by Membership Services Corporation of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania to reduce the cost of medicine for people who live and work in the Lehigh Valley. We believe that stronger, healthier and happier people make healthier, better communities and a stronger, gentler nation. Now, more than ten thousand community and faith-based organizations, county agencies, doctors, pharmacies, companies, and individuals across the country are joined together in this partnership to distribute free FamilyWize prescription drug discount cards in their communities, reducing the cost of medicine for people in one out every four counties in the United States. More than 600 participating United Way agencies, America’s Promise Alliance Partners, and individual counties in all 50 states and Puerto Rico have volunteered to coordinate these distribution efforts. The savings on the cost of the medicine is provided by the more than 53,000 participating local pharmacies that have agreed voluntarily to accept prices for medications that are close to the prices they make available to large insurance companies and employers. All other program costs, including materials, printing, shipping, programming, distribution, reporting, administration, network pharmacy services and customer service are provided by in-kind donations from the program sponsors and by part of the processing fee included in the cost of the medicine. For more information visit www.FamilyWize.org.