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Welcome To the Latest Issue of eNews!
January 28, 2010 vol 1 issue 2 Welcome to La Crosse County’s eNews. Our purpose is to keep the people of La Crosse County better informed about your County government. County government has not always been as visible as some other levels of government. So we’ll provide eNews you can use like upcoming dates for public hearings, health clinics and reminders about deadlines for dog licenses and ordinance changes. We’ll provide detailed information about our budget, highlights of innovations and achievements and updates about critical issues facing the County, like how certain actions of the State & Federal governments will affect County services and County property taxpayers. We also want the people of our County to have a chance to learn more about the inner workings of County government by providing access to the Monthly Report to the County Board. On an alternating basis, roughly half the departments report each month on the most compelling statistics, activities and challenges confronting our staff working to provide the best in public service. Link to Monthly Reports. We hope you find La Crosse County eNews helpful and informative. If you have any suggestions how to make it better, please let us know using our email links at the bottom. eNews You Can Use!
La Crosse County Offers Prescription Discount Card
That Can Be Used by All Residents Discount Cards Offer Average Savings Of 22 Percent Off Retail Price On January 4, 2010 La Crosse County began participating in a joint effort with the National Association of Counties to bring La Crosse County Residents a Prescription Drug Discount Card. This Program is offered at no cost to county residents. No County tax dollars are used to support the program. There is no sign up, membership fee, forms to fill out or paperwork to complete. Residents can pick up a card, take it to a participating pharmacy & save an average of 22% prescription medicines. You & your family may use your prescription discount card any time your prescription is not covered by insurance. There are no restrictions or limits on how many times you may use your card. The prescription discount card program helps consumers cope with the high price of prescriptions. The county has signed a contract to make free prescription discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo) that offers average savings of 22 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs. The cards may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage. There are 22 pharmacies in the county that will accept the NACo card, and a national network of more than 59,000 participating retail pharmacies also will honor it. Chairman Steve Doyle said “We really appreciate the cooperation of the local pharmacies, since the use of these discount cards reduces their level of reimbursement.” The NACo prescription discount card will offer significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county, and even those fortunate to have prescription coverage may use the card to save money on drugs that are not covered by their health plan,” said Lindsey Schwarz-Nichols, La Crosse County Health Department social worker. “Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program.” There will be no cost to county taxpayers for NACo and La Crosse County to make these money-saving cards available to residents. “Using the NACo prescription discount card is easy,” said Schwarz-Nichols. “A cardholder will simply present it at a participating pharmacy. There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use. Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance.” The program is administered by CVS Caremark. For more information and a list of participating pharmacies go to the following link: http://www.co.la-crosse.wi.us/health/docs/PrescriptionDiscount/NacoRxHome.htm For more information please contact Lindsey Schwarz-Nichols, La Crosse County Health Dept, 608-785-5841 State Public Defender Representation Standards
To Be Considered For Revision After 23 years, the Legislature might finally revise income standards for defendants to qualify for State Public Defender representation. Current case law requires judges to appoint counsel at county expense if an individual does not qualify for state public defender representation. The State’s failure to address this issue has meant that millions of County property tax dollars have paid for defendant representation in the State Court system. La Crosse County alone incurs more than $350,000 each year for criminal defense representation. Qualification for state public defender representation is based on 1987 AFDC standards. Because the standards are over 20 years old, each year fewer individuals qualify for a state public defender and a greater number of individuals receive counsel at county expense. The federal and state constitutions provide all criminal defendants with the right to counsel, even when the defendant is unable to obtain counsel at their own expense. The Office of the State Public Defender was created in the late 1970s to provide constitutionally entitled indigent defense services at state expense. Senate Bill 263 and Assembly Bill 395 are companion bills that tie qualification standards for SPD representation to W-2 eligibility by decreasing property tax dollars associated with the provision of indigent counsel. It saves taxpayer money (in 2008, counties reported spending $6,000,000 on indigent defense) and it ensures that Wisconsin provides equal protection under the law. The Assembly decided to put off a vote on a bill this week that would change these standards. A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan said lawmakers were working on an amendment to the bill and decided to put off the vote to give them more time with it, especially with the governor's State of the State speech this week. The Assembly bill will be back on the floor soon.
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