Saving Hundreds of Thousands in Tough Economic Times

UPDATE - Boston Globe Covers Parker's Drug Reimportation Program Successes.

In a time of rapidly spiraling health care costs, Ken Parker is taking action to control costs without compromising the quality of employee health care.

The Canadian Drug Reimportation program proposed by Alderman Ken Parker is now saving the city and its employees hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2008 alone, the program — which includes a generic drugs component — resulted in $491 thousand in savings, bringing the total over the course of four years to $945 thousand.

This is what Ken Parker does very well: bringing sound new ideas and practices to Newton, changing the way we do things to improve city services step by step.  The citywide dollar savings are very significant in this case but also have a specific school system budget impact, equating to $150,000 or three teacher salaries for just last year alone.

~School Committee Member Geoff Epstein

Alderman Parker got the idea for the Canadian Drug Reimportation program after hearing about a similar effort developed in Springfield, Massachusetts. Alderman Parker researched options and invited the Springfield official who developed their program to come to Newton to share his experiences with the program. Alderman Parker then worked with the City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Michael Rourke, to develop the parameters for a program that could be offered to Newton employees and retirees.

Participation in the program took some time to take off, but as more and more employees and retirees take advantage of the program, the financial impact of the program has grown considerably. Savings under the program include $640,461 in waived co-pays for employees and $305,186 in net savings to the City, after program costs.

With Ken Parker as Newton Mayor, Newton residents can look forward to this type of innovation, which will improve services and control costs for the long term health of our city.