COLUMBIA - A program to help senior citizens get less expensive prescriptions is more likely to pass this year after a Senate committee gave it quick approval Wednesday morning.

The legislation, driven by Horry County lawmakers at the request of the Silver Haired Legislature, sets up a drug bulk-buying program so the state can negotiate for lower prices.

The cost to members will be an annual fee, which will be determined after a program plan is drafted.

Tom Lloyd of Columbia, speaker of the Silver Haired Legislature, said he hopes the state Health and Human Services agency will draft the plan over the summer if the bill passes, and then people will have a better idea what it will cost and how much they will save on drugs.

The annual fee has been guessed at between $5 and $30.

The program would be open to anyone older than 65 who is not on Medicaid, regardless of any other insurance they may have.

Pharmacist Brian Musgrove with The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Surfside Beach said he was concerned about how the program would work. He worried that if a mail-order system was set up for patients, it would impact the patient-pharmacist relationship.

"If it allows patients to still utilize one pharmacy, then the pharmacist can still check for drug interactions," Musgrove said. "If patients have questions about their medications, will they have to dial an 800-number? That defeats the whole purpose. I think people like that face-to-face relationship with a pharmacy."

The House already passed the bill, which Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, sponsored.

Clemmons told the Senate Medical Affairs Committee it is "a simple program" that won't cost the state anything.

Something is needed to help seniors, Musgrove said.

"We see more and more seniors who fall between the cracks," Musgrove said. "They either make too much for Medicaid or SilverCard, [another state prescription drug program that helps needy seniors], and it's taking all their money to pay their insurance and for medications. It doesn't leave much to live off of."

Susie Davis, 70, of Conway, said any additional help would make it easier for people like her.

Davis was paying more than $500 a month for prescription medicine before she enrolled in SilverCard.

"SilverCard has helped, but a program like the [bulk-buying program] would help even more," Davis said. "I had to have one of my medications switched because it was so expensive."

Evelyn Richardson, 68, of Conway, said she spends about a $100 a month on prescriptions. She can't afford to purchase her cholesterol medication all at once. And the medication that would help her acid reflux is too expensive, so she often goes without it.

"I just can't afford it," Richardson said.

"This is important to our senior citizens," Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, told the committee. He asked that his bill be made the same as Clemmons' measure and that both be sent for floor debate.

Both bills were passed with no opposition.

Elliott said to ensure passage, he also intends to attach the plan to the state budget while the Senate is working on the spending plan this week, and it will also be attached to an HHS reform bill.

"I don't know of any legislation that's had four bites of the apple," Elliott said.

The bill also calls for the buying program to be combined with a similar one for Medicaid clients to get a bigger pool. But whether the state can do that is still up in the air, Clemmons said.

The federal government has questioned whether Medicaid clients should be combined with a non-Medicaid group, and the issue is currently in federal court, he said.

If the court rules that the two groups can't be combined, the state will look for other groups to join, Clemmons said.

Staff writer Elaine Gaston contributed to this report.