Funding spurs second prescription drug trip for seniors

AUGUSTA – Elderly people will get an additional chance to make a prescription drug run to Canada with the Maine Council of Senior Citizens thanks to money from a national organization.

The Maine Council of Senior Citizens was able to plan a second annual trip north of the border because it received $5,500 from the Alliance for Retired Americans.

ARA is paying for a number of bus trips from border states in late March and early April to call attention to the price of medications that seniors on Medicare pay, according to Edward Coyle, executive director of the Washington-based group.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Maine State Employees Association also contributed money for the trip, which is set for March 27.

During the last trip organized by the Maine Council of Senior Citizens, a group of 26 seniors collectively saved $32,000, or about $1,200 each, according to the organization’s president, John Moran.

Many seniors are not eligible for the state’s discount prescription drug programs such as Healthy Maine and Drugs to the Elderly, Moran said.

Riders are examined by an American doctor in Calais who writes prescriptions that can be filled across the border, where price controls keep the costs of medications down.

Moran said that seniors can save as much as 50 percent on prescription drugs.

He hopes that such trips will make activists out of those participating.

There is room for about 40 people on the trip, which includes two meals. Riders are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Maine seniors interested in the March 27 trip may call the council at 1-800-452-8794.