Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak is pitching the Legislature on a plan to join a multi-state prescription discount program.
Five states already participate in ArrayRx, a drug discount card offered through pharmacy benefit manager Navitus Health. Connecticut, which joined in 2023, is reporting savings of roughly $200 a month per user, according to Pieciak.
The idea behind ArrayRx is simple: by leveraging their collective purchasing power, states can negotiate for better discounts for their residents. Vermonters would have to register for the program, but the cards are free. Users typically enjoy discounts of up to 80% on generic drugs, and 20% on name-brand drugs, Pieciak said.
“This is government at its best. Instead of each state going alone, states work together, giving us more power to reduce costs and deliver real savings to our residents,” Pieciak said.
The treasurer’s office said Vermont would only incur minor administration and outreach costs to participate in the program.
Users would not be able to stack the card’s discounts on top of insurance. But the Vermont Health Care Advocate's office is pursuing separate legislation that would allow prescription purchases made using the discount card to count toward an individual’s deductible.
Plenty of lawmakers are already on board with the treasurer’s plan. House Speaker Jill Krowinski and other top Democrats joined Pieciak at a Statehouse press conference Thursday to throw their support behind the proposal.
House Health Care Committee Chair Rep. Alyssa Black, who is sponsoring H.577, said the program offered “a proven and immediate solution at no ongoing cost to taxpayers.”
“By joining ArrayRx, Vermont can partner with states to hold the drug companies accountable, negotiate lower prices and secure a drug discount for Vermonters, regardless of their coverage,” she said.
Black’s counterpart in the upper chamber, Sen. Ginny Lyons, said her committee would also work on a companion bill.
Vermonters face some of the highest health care prices in the nation, and thousands face even steeper out-of-pocket costs this year because of expired Obamacare subsidies. Pieciak framed the discount card as a small but nevertheless meaningful step Vermont could take “toward creating a system that works for people instead of against them.”
Several key advocacy groups have also thrown their weight behind the idea, including the Vermont Medical Society and the state’s Health Care Advocate, Mike Fisher.
“We want people to make health care choices, not economic choices. Unfortunately, sometimes they have no choice,” Fisher said.
Greg Marchildon, the state director for AARP Vermont, said at the press conference that he was a “cheerleader for bulk purchasing.”
“Everybody knows that going to Costco and purchasing paper towels that way, as opposed to going into a small store, and purchasing paper towels that way provides real discounts, real discounts to real people who really need them,” he said. Costco, incidentally, owns a stake in Navitus Health.
A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott, Amanda Wheeler, said the governor’s office hadn’t yet reviewed the proposal.
