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	IBEW members & their families can soon benefit from one of the first drug programs to be offered on a nationwide basis for labor unions.

The Electrical Industry Save-Rx Plan has been launched to relieve members of one of the largest burdens in health care today: the high cost of prescription drugs. Taking advantage of volume buying, the plan is a partnership with established pharmacy benefit management company Sav-Rx. The plan is available to any employer in any branch of the IBEW who has a collective bargaining agreement.

"The nations dysfunctional health care delivery system is deteriorating at such a rapid pace that basic care could soon be a luxury available only to the rich," said IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill. "But as we know, theres strength in numbers. This plan ensures that prescription drugs will remain within reach of IBEW members."

Announced at various branch conferences this spring, the program had approximately 30,000 participants at the time of its launch. Membership is expected to rise to 100,000 by years end.

Sav-Rx, which has more than 11 million members across the United States, is an industry leader in offering a wide variety of brand name and generic drugs at discounted prices but with high quality customer service.

Rising Drug Prices

Nationwide, prescription drug prices have been recording escalating double-digit increases for the past several years. Last year, prices rose nearly 17 percent from 2001; this year they are expected to top 19 percent, a rate at which the prices would more than double every five years.

"That wont work for long or well all be going out of the health care insurance business," said IBEW Pension Department Director Larry Reidenbach. "This will buy us time but ultimately were going to need help on a national level. There needs to be some kind of legislative answer."

Last fall, at the direction of International Secretary-Treasurer Jerry OConnor, the IBEW started researching the feasibility of a national prescription drug program. An actuarial comparison of six prescription drug plans showed that Save-Rxalready the provider for several locals as well as the international officers and staffwould shave a total of $3.5 million off of a $38 million cost, a saving of 9 percent.

"Were able to generate savings like that because we have the nationwide numbers to get the best deal, and we believe this is the best deal," OConnor told delegates at the April Construction and Maintenance Conference.

And the savings could get even greater, OConnor said, because six other building trades unions are considering joining the program with Sav-Rx under the same terms and conditions the IBEW has negotiated. "Their numbers, combined with ours, will give us greater economy of scale, more purchasing power and greater leverage with our provider to make sure that we are getting the best possible program for our members," he said.

That savings is significant because in an industry like pharmaceuticals, where government-issued patents prevent most competition, prices are usually non-negotiable. In Canada, which has a national health care plan, the same prescription medications are routinely sold for up to 50 percent less than in the United States. While the IBEW plan could not affect prices through negotiations with drug companies, it can influence prices through volume buying.

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June 2003 IBEW Journal