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Mailâ€"order drug plan will save region $50,000 The opportunity to save money overshadowed philosophical conâ€" cerns in a debate on the Halton regional employee drug benefit plan. By BRAD REAUME Special to the Beaver During Wednesday‘s regional administration and finance comâ€" mittee meeting, councillors debatâ€" ed the merits of a plan to desigâ€" nate Pharmex Containment Services â€" an Oakvilleâ€"based mailâ€"order pharmaceutical compaâ€" ny, as the preferred provider of prescription drugs to regional employees. Women having fewer children and giving birth to them later Annual savings are estimated at $50,000 by asking regional employees to use the company whenever possible. Regional For women under 30â€"years of age, the birthrate in Halton is significantly lower than the provincial average, while for the 30â€"34â€"age group, the rate was much higher than the average. m Those were just two of the findings of a report to Halton Region‘s health and social services committee last week. _ Teenage birthrates were lower in Halton than the province as a whole, but there was a major difference between the northern Halton communities (Milton, Halton Hills), which were just under the provincial average; and he southern ones (Burlington, Oakville), which were far under the provinâ€" cial average. _ Dr. Terry Delmore, author of the report, told the committee that Halton falso has a lesser incidence of low birthweight babies defined as those ‘weighing under 2.5 kilograms. Halton maintained a favorable comparison ‘with the province in every year of the study and had a significantly better record than the provincial average in seven of the 10 years. Dr. Delmore said there was a correlation between very young mothers and low birthweight babies. 5CFPECQOEE 50% off lenses with the purchase of a frame at regular m‘ price OR 50% off frames with the purchase of lenses Expect more from Sears gt regular price. Offer expires January 21, 1994 @Trademark authorized for use in Canada These two offers cannot be combined nor can either offer be combined with any other discount offer. Some restrictions apply. KVILLE PLACE....842â€"9410 employees would not be bound to Pharmex, which has but a single location and only a small retail component. However, they would be asked to order say continuing prescriptions through the compaâ€" ny. Pharmex charges substantially lower dispensing fees than most retail drug stores. The region‘s employees utilize their drug plan with about a 50â€"50 split between maintenance drugs and immediate needs. "I don‘t like the wording ‘preâ€" ferred provider‘," said Oakville councillor Keith Bird. "I don‘t think we should be directing the business affairs of our employâ€" »» ges. "I don‘t have any problem with what‘s being proposed; I‘m all for saving a dollar or $50,000," said Milton mayor Gord Krantz. "I wonder if we could have some coordinated effort, so independent pharmacists wouldn‘t be shut out." A motion to defer the issue until independent pharmacies could have input was defeated when councillors heard that they had all been invited to tender their services and had declined because they did not endorse the practice of lowering dispensing fees. In addition, a motion to strike the word "preferred" was also defeated. "This is a look at the real world of retailing and marketing in the 1990s," said chairman Peter Pomeroy. "It‘s a sad reality, but it‘s happening. I don‘t want to criticize staff over bringing us an opportunity to save $50,000. How can we tell taxpayers we‘ve found a $50,000 saving, but we‘re not Seriou.s Fitness, Serious Fun, Seriously Affordable! Pharmex representatives told the committee that they supply prescriptions to employees of the County of Essex and several other institutions among their 250,000 clients. going to do it." regional employees with informaâ€" tion at a soonâ€"toâ€"beâ€"scheduled seminar. The committee‘s deciâ€" sion to recommend Pharmex as the preferred supplier of prescripâ€" tions will go to next week‘s full council meeting for final approval. 2 uayaam a|li/ n Call for Details!