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June 2003 IBEW Journal

Flexibility, Savings... But No Wal-Mart

In addition to single employers, the Electrical Industry Sav-Rx Plan is open to the multi-employer, Taft-Hartley funds typical in the construction industry.

Any locals or fund managers interested in the program should call their IBEW International Office branch department for additional details. With three months of claims data from the current prescription benefit manager, Piti said she could determine the amount of savings with Sav-Rx. "I want to give them enough information to make their final decision," she said. "If they have the claims data, I can tell them pretty darn close to what this will save them."

The national plan only guarantees IBEW participants costs benefits through volume buying. All of the other details are up to the funds. Each employer/fund negotiates its own plan, allowing for changes such as participant co-payment levels, use of generic drugs and mail-order options.

"Sav-Rx has more than 40,000 plan designs and they claim there is no plan design they cant provide," Reidenbach said.

Using the mail order option is cheaper than the retail one, said David Yockel, International Office Research Department manager in charge of data analysis and employee benefits. Under the Sav-Rx plan, any rebatesoffered by pharmaceutical companies to ensure brand loyaltyare returned to the participating fund or employer, Yockel said. This offers plan participants further savings.

Another popular service Sav-Rx offers is a cash discount card for members or retirees not covered under their locals benefit plan. The service, Sav-Rx Advantage, provides the discounted pricesusually 20 percent less than retailto retirees or IBEW members whose funds or employers have not made a formal agreement to join the national plan.

Sav-Rx monitors and periodically reviews participants utilization. It also monitors dosages and amounts, particularly useful to seniors, who take an average of 4.5 prescription medications each day. Periodic audits and random sampling ensure the plans are working properly. An auditor will review the program annually to ensure compliance and help negotiate new terms.

The IBEW and Sav-Rx agreed if the number of plan participants reaches 300,000, they would renegotiate for further savings.

Built in to the national plan is the flexibility a diverse international union like the IBEW demands. But the exclusion of one retailer was deliberate: because of its anti-worker policies, participants cannot take their prescriptions to Wal-Mart.

Prescription drugs are only one component of an out-of-whack health care delivery system in the United States that is growing more catastrophic by the day.

"We hope this is just the beginning," International President Hill said. "We intend to take the same principles and the same negotiating power and apply it to a nationwide health care insurance plan that will be available to all IBEW locals. Thats a much taller order and it will not happen overnight. But we are making overall progress and hope to have very good news in the future on this front."

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