Hawaii Rx Card Media Center

Like many Americans who haven't been there, I suspect, I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. I guess now I have another reason. Should I ever go to live there and wind up uninsured, I'll know that I can get a Hawaii Rx Card.

That's my roundabout way of saying that on Wednesday, March 10, Hawaii is unveiling a free discount prescription drug card program, being offered to uninsured residents of the state who can't afford their prescription drugs.

As the press release says, Hawaii once upon a time had the fewest uninsured residents in the country, but that's no longer the case.

Families USA, a consumer advocacy group that bills itself as "the voice for health care consumers," issued a report showing that as of 2007-08, 294,000 residents were uninsured -- that's 27.1% of Hawaiian residents under the age of 65.

So if you live in Hawaii, and you're uninsured, and you have medicine you need to take but can't... well, check out this card, by logging on right here. You can download a free card, search for the price of your medicine and find participating pharmacies. And note, "search for the price." The card is free, but you still have to pay for medicine; it's just that this card gives you some severely discounted medicine.

This isn't the first time Hawaii has taken a stab at this. Just a quick look through Google shows numerous other articles from years past, where Hawaii has unveiled free prescription drug programs. But hopefully this one's different. It sure looks promising.

According to the Web site, there are no forms or claims to fill out. No waiting periods. No age or income restrictions, and it's available at 50,000 pharmacies around the country. Nobody wants to be sick, but if you're going to be sick, Hawaii sounds like the place to be.