A drive to help seniors get cheaper prescriptions advanced last week when the House passed a health care reform bill that adopted a measure sponsored by two Horry County legislators.

The plan is the top priority of the Silver Haired Legislature, and members already were calling senators Friday morning seeking support when the bill comes to them.

Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, and Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, filed bills that set up a pooled buying system for seniors ineligible for Medicaid, the program for the poorest residents.

They were responding to requests from the Silver Haired Legislature, a statewide group with a strong organization and much of its leadership in Horry County.

Clemmons, seeing a health care reform bill moving forward, pitched his bill as part of the proposal and succeeded. That gives it a boost when the Senate takes it up, more than it would have as a separate measure.

The reform bill includes plans to pay for Medicaid with money raised by refinancing the bonds the state issued that will be paid back with its share of the tobacco settlement. But the bill also includes restructuring such as moving the Department of Mental Health directly under the governor's control as a Cabinet agency.

The House spent almost eight hours Thursday debating the bill, but most of the fight was over whether Medicaid should be paid for by bond refinancing or raising taxes on cigarettes. There was very little discussion of other parts in the complex bill.

The S.C. Retirees and Individuals Pooling Together, or SCRIPTS act, differs from the existing SilverXCard because it will be available to everyone regardless of income, Clemmons said.

Gov. Mark Sanford has started a program of pooled drug-buying for Medicaid patients of all ages, and SCRIPTS could be combined with that to make a bigger pool. It could also join other state systems later to increase the pool's size.

The Silver Haired Legislature is "definitely thrilled" about Clemmons' bill being included with the bigger bill, said Willard Cahill of Conway, the group's spokesman.

The plan comes closer to what seniors wanted when the SilverXCard program was passed for low-income older residents, Cahill said. The seniors most affected are those in middle incomes who are "falling through the cracks," he said.

In calls to senators, "the response we've gotten so far has been very favorable," Cahill said. The bill probably will be assigned to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee for study.

Clemmons said the program will require an annual fee of $10 to $25, and the more people over 65 who join, the greater buying power they will have. The program won't cost the state or taxpayers anything.

"Our senior citizens are sending millions of S.C. dollars this year to Canada in a desperate attempt to save money on prescription drugs," Clemmons said. Canada gets drugs for less because it formed a national pool for all residents.

Clemmons said his plan makes the state act almost the way Wal-Mart does when it buys items: Because of its size, it can negotiate for lower prices and sell items for less.

"SCRIPTS empowers the Department of Health and Human Services to be the Wal-Mart of prescription drug purchasing," Clemmons said.

He said he was inspired to work on the problem by his 85-year-old great-aunt, Hope Barr, of Myrtle Beach, who struggles to pay for her drugs on a limited Social Security check, but that income makes her ineligible for Medicaid.

Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, was among those urging the Senate to keep SCRIPTS in the bill.

"I am hopeful that the Senate will embrace SCRIPTS, as has the House, as a way to truly help our senior citizens to reduce the cost of their prescription drugs at no cost to the taxpayer," Wilkins said.