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Prescription card mailings raise concern 3 And it may also open the user to a barrage of targeted marketing by other companies. "Most discount cards, in our estimation, are worthless," Kaufman said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, when we run those through, our cash price is less than what the discount price is. If a customer brings one in and wants us to run it through to save money, we do that. We want to keep our customers happy. It does guarantee a price, but it's usually not as low as you can get if you shop around Nine out of 10 times, our price is lower." Who? The company, United States Prescription Discounts, is a subsidiary of New York -based Script Relief LLC, which itself is a subsidiary of LOEB Enterprises. LOEB formed the LLC in October 2011. The company s D.C. address listed in the mailing is actually just a Post Office box. O ther names used by the company for its discount prescription cards, according to the B etter Business Bureau of New York, include Alternate Help Rx, National Prescription S avings Network, RxRelief and The Healthcare Alliance. Better Business Bureaus in several states have received complaints about the company's literature which promises on the discount card itself savings "up to 75 percent on all FDA approved drugs at pharmacies everywhere," and in the enclosed literature, "an average 50 percent on all your prescription medicines." On its website, and in information in a booklet in the mailing, however, the company advises that the card is intended for people who are uninsured, underinsured, in the Medicare 'doughnut hole," or for purchasing a prescription not covered by their insurer's formulary. Also the discounts, the company responded in a BBB complaint, are off the manufacturer's suggested price. "Our program is not designed to add discounts to discounts you are already receiving from your current provider, nor is it designed to reduce your co -pay," the website for Script Relief advises. And while it may be used to discount drugs for patients in the Medicare Part D supplement gap or "doughnut hole " drugs purchased using the discount card can't be counted toward the Medicare deductible to get out of that doughnut hole. The payoff? The card is free and it doesn't require that users register with the company to use it or fill out any forms or paperwork. So what does the company gain when a consumer uses the card? Apparently two things: The company acts as a middleman between the pharmacy and the company actually purchasing drugs in bulk - Catamaran - and it collects a fee from the pharmacy for each transaction submitted and when the card is used, Kaufman noted, the personal information attached to the purchase is forwarded to the company in order to complete the transaction. file:///C:/Users/mpursel/AppData/Local/Temp/XWEPGKR5.htm 1/27/2014 202