Lombard woman first to receive medication from Illinois' I-SaveRx drug savings program

Chicago, Illinois-Concetta "Connie" Tosti, a retired retail salesperson from Lombard, is the first Illinois resident to receive a shipment of medication from the state's new prescription drug savings program, I-SaveRx.  Gov. Rod Blagojevich launched I-SaveRx in early October to offer Illinois residents a safe and affordable way to purchase their medication refills from Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.  Wisconsin and Missouri have since joined the I-SaveRx program.

 

"When I read about the I-SaveRx program in the [Chicago] Sun-Times, I called immediately," Connie said. "I had no hesitation."

 

Connie, 66, takes just one medication—Fosamax, which is used to treat osteoporosis. Prior to calling I-SaveRx, Connie conducted her own pricing research and found that a prescription of Fosamax costs between $67 and $71 per month in the U.S.

 

Through I-SaveRx, Connie was able to purchase her medication from Canada for approximately $45 per month—a 35 percent savings.

 

"I called Walgreen's, I called Osco, I called Target," she said. "You name it—I think I called everybody in Illinois that sells medicine to get the best price.  After all, every dollar counts."

 

Connie said that high drug prices in the U.S. justified purchasing medications from other counties. "Since drug prices are too expensive here, we need to go overseas," she said.

 

"I know there are millions of people that need medication but don't have any insurance.  I would tell them to try the I-SaveRx program.  I would recommend I-SaveRx to anyone," Connie said.

 

Launched in early October 2004 by Gov. Blagojevich and the State of Illinois, I-SaveRx is the nation's first program that allows individuals and families to purchase safe, less expensive prescription drugs from a network of state-inspected pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.  Prescription drugs from those countries cost, on average, 25 to 50 percent less than the exact same medicines sold in the United States. Approximately 18,000 people have either downloaded the enrollment form from the program's website (www.I-SaveRx.net) or requested enrollment forms through the program's toll-free hotline (1-866-I-SAVE33).