BeneCard Redux

This whole BeneCard flap Corzine’s campaign has raised against Doug Forrester is reminiscent of the same charges Bob Torricelli tried to make in his final days of desperation before “the Torch” dropped out of the Senate race in 2002.

You may remember the Mayor of Hamilton, Democrat Glen Gilmore tired to come to the defense of Torricelli by canceling his town’s contract with BeneCard. Politics NJ had a link, (now dead) to the article Issues of Politics, Savings In Drug Plan (available in the paid archives) recounting the political stunt.

No longer would Hamilton allow Benecard, a private company co-owned by Torricelli challenger Douglas Forrester, to manage the prescription drug benefit plan for township employees, Gilmore said.

The township could save money, Gilmore declared, by hiring a company that would pass drug manufacturer rebates back to the municipality.

The battle that spawned Hamilton's change of heart on Benecard, which had handled the municipality's business for nine years, has long since become part of the state's political grist.

But the question of Hamilton's drug bill is very much alive.

Since dumping Benecard, Hamilton's costs for prescription drug coverage have risen almost 28 percent, more than $436,000, according to figures from township officials.

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