Regarding your Feb. 11 story “Residents Seeing Savings with Prescription Program,” working to increase the number of insured citizens receiving quality healthcare at a reduced cost is the ultimate goal for healthcare reformers. Although change is a powerful and difficult concept to achieve immediately, healthcare reform should be viewed as a broader process that improves the health of citizens by redefining healthcare access through opportunities such as the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) benefit. While the card is available to all, with costs of medical care continuously rising, it’s reassuring as a social work graduate student to know there’s access to prescription savings for people having an increasingly hard time getting by. Residents can easily obtain a prescription discount card funded through the CCM association at www.ctrxdiscountcard.com. East Haven residents have already saved close to $130,000 through this program.

I reside with my grandparents in East Haven. Month after month I witness the financial burden for their prescription medications. Healthcare reform starts with a motive. Through the motive of change, residents (two of them being my grandparents) can now have easier and cost-effective options to prescription medications. I’m in favor of this benefit, as I feel this prescription discount card can make a difference for those who struggle to afford their monthly expenses.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel abroad with New York University to Paris, France, and Buenos Aries, Argentina. Despite one’s social economic status, we learned that mental health and health care rights for citizens are equal among all. At times I question how equal access to healthcare opportunities are for Americans. I strongly believe the CCM benefit can be useful to all citizens of Connecticut. Thanks to this paper’s coverage, hopefully more people will learn about and take advantage of this great program.

Alexia Levin

East Haven