Members and retirees will soon receive a new prescription drug benefit card. The card will have no expiration date and will not include the cardholder’s Social Security number.

The new blue and white card will contain the logos of DC 37 and Express Scripts, Inc. ESI recently purchased National Prescription Administrators, which for many years, NPA administered the benefit for the DC 37 Health and Security Plan and issued the old green and white drug card with the NPA logo.

The plan used to send out new cards every year to members and every two years to retirees to prevent possible continued use by ineligible people.

Now that it can monitor membership rolls better, the plan decided to issue cards without expiration dates, which will reduce administrative costs.

“We are working closely with Express Scripts to make our drug benefit more convenient,” said Rosaria R. Esperon, administrator of the plan. “Revamping the card is one of the improvements we are making.”

No Social Security number
ESI’s computer program internally links names, Social Security numbers and its own alternate identification numbers, but only the name and ID number will be on the drug card. Concerned about identity theft, many members complained about the inclusion of their Social Security number on their prescription benefit card. At pharmacies, individuals may use any of the three forms of identification to fill their prescriptions.

In response to another long-standing complaint, the Health and Security Plan will now provide members and retirees with a second card for their spouses or domestic partners. The new cards will also use cardholders’ full first names in addition to their last names. The old card only spelled out the first seven letters of first names, a source of irritation for participants with longer names.

“There will be a lot of happy Christophers,” joked Ms. Esperon. The cards will be sent out this month with a cardboard carrier, which will include details about the prescription drug benefit.

Benefit information
The prescription drug benefit requires the use of generic medication, includes a mandatory mail-order program for maintenance drugs and has higher co-pays for preferred brand-name drugs and non-preferred brand-name drugs. (Remember, if a drug has a generic equivalent, subscribers who obtain the brand-name counterpart must pay the difference in cost plus the higher co-pay.) The mailing will also include the plan’s preferred-drug list.

The card carrier has information about co-pays, the mandatory mail-order program for maintenance medication and the prescription drug plan administrator’s Web site (www.express-scripts.com), which describes benefit coverage, locations of participating pharmacies and specific drug and health information.

In the card mailing, Express Scripts will also discuss its disclosure policy. The card and computer system meet federal privacy guidelines under the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act of 1996.