By BRAD GASKINS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – A program that provides free discount prescription cards to Shelby County residents launched Nov. 14.

The Coast2Coast RX program cards can be used at most pharmacies in the county. It is free, doesn’t require advance registration and can be used at all major pharmacies, as well as most smaller, independently owned pharmacies.

The prescription cards are targeted at the uninsured, but can also be used by those who already have insurance.

Cardholders could save up to 65 percent on individual prescriptions, with annual savings generally ranging from 20 to 40 percent, according to Reggie Holloway, the county’s manager of community services, who outlined the program in a memo to county commissioners.

Commissioners voted to back the program during a Sept. 12 meeting. The county also agreed to enter into a one-year contract with the card provider, Financial Marketing Concepts, based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

The county receives $1 every time a prescription card is used.

The program is in place in 120 counties and cities across the country, according to Ron Howard, a Coast2Coast representative. In Alabama, Mobile County has had the program for 10 months and seen 44,000 prescriptions filled from the card, Howard said.

The cards will be available in all county pharmacies by the end of this week, or online at rxsavings.shelbyal.com.