Families of children enrolled in Head Start programs as well as agency volunteers will soon have the ability to purchase more than 300 brand-name and generic prescription drugs at 25 to 40 percent discounts following a deal inked by the program’s national advocacy group and pharmaceutical coalition.

The National Head Start Association said in a statement this week that many families of the more than 1 million children that rely on Head Start educational and related services such as transportation to and from school are without health insurance. Despite the low-income requirements for their children to be eligible for the early intervention program, and the fact that these children are covered by SCHIP, many of their family members do not qualify for Medicaid. Likewise, many of the 200,000 Head Start agency employees, most of which are volunteers, lack health insurance.

“While Head Start is often recognized primarily for its educational contribution, health-care and family services have been a long-standing part of the support it provides,” said Yasmina Vinci, NHSA’s executive diretor. “We plan to utilize existing channels of communication within NHSA to raise awareness of Together Rx Access among the individuals and families served by Head Start, as well as our volunteers and corporate and non-profit sponsors.”

Together Rx is a coalition of more than a dozen drug companies that includes Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Ortho-McNeil and Pfizer. currently has more than 2 million cardholders and directs them to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, a clearinghouse of more than 475 public and private assistance programs, to identify discounted or even free prescription drugs available from neighborhood pharmacies.