Our view: Easing the sting

Did you ever hear of a pill-splitter a generation ago?

Now it’s just one in an arsenal of techniques for combating high prescription drug prices. People cut their pills in half, skip doses, travel to drug stores in Canada or Mexico or even give up food or electricity to pay for the medicine they need. It’s one of the most troubling aspects of life for uninsured Americans.

Last week, a new Washington state discount drug card was announced. It’s designed to reduce prescription drug prices for consumers, by about 20 percent for brand-name medicines and about 60 percent for generics.

The program, part of a consortium with the state of Oregon, takes advantage of the two states’ buying power to lower drug prices to cardholders. Their cards may be used at a variety of pharmacies, including those at Safeway, Albertsons, QFC, ShopKo and Fred Meyer.

Best of all, the card is free and available to everyone, regardless of age or income.

If you already have health insurance that covers all your prescription drugs, you probably won’t benefit from this card. But if you’re uninsured, or your insurance refuses to pay for some of your prescriptions, it’s likely worth your time to sign up.

This card is designed to be particularly helpful to people without insurance, whether they’re retired or just graduating from school and losing their parents’ health care coverage. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there were 831,750 uninsured people in Washington state between 2004 and 2005.

Last week, after this program was first announced, 16,200 people enrolled right away. It should take two weeks for them to receive their cards.

We won’t know until they start using these cards exactly how much they’ll save on specific drugs.

But, with any luck, their pill-splitting days may soon be over.