CAN’T AFFORD YOUR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS?

     NEEDYMEDS.COM: The price of prescription drugs has been rising at twice the rate of inflation. It’s hurting people of all ages. Seniors have the Medicare prescription program, but it only covers so much, and then you’re on your own. NEEDYMEDS.COM is an excellent site that is easy to use, covers people of all ages, and ensures that no American needs to go without a prescription drug simply because they can’t afford it.

http://www.needymeds.com/

I FELL IN THE DOUGHNUT HOLE

     If you’re in the Medicare prescription drug program, you know about the Dread Doughnut Hole. If you’re not, the Dread Doughnut Hole is the moment, which I reached in September, when the U.S. government says, “We aren’t going to pay one penny more on your prescriptions until next January.”

     Now, I didn’t think I took that much stuff, and I was amazed to find we were talking hundreds of dollars per month we’d have to pony up ourselves. I figured I’d better do something, and that something was to see if any of my medications could be replaced by generic drugs. Which is what the U.S. government was presumably hoping I’d do: it was a clear day on the Potomac when they passed THAT legislation.

     Naturally I put the names of each of my medications, accompanied by the word generic, into the Google search box.

     I take five prescription drugs, and it turned out four of the five are either available as generics, or something similar is available in generic form. Which means that, if some of your medications are not available as generics, your doctor may know of something similar that is a generic. Doctors are under tremendous pressure from the drug manufacturers to prescribe the latest, most expensive drugs, but they do know about cheaper drugs if asked.

     Next I looked up Wal-Mart’s website. Wal-Mart offers more than 300 generic drugs for $4 per 30-day prescription. We found two of the four generic drugs I take were on Wal-Mart’s list, so we can save quite a bit by going to Wal-Mart. And the two generics not on Wal-Mart’s list will still be much cheaper than the full-price brands.

     Learn whether you can save by going to Wal-Mart by clicking on:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=
546834&fromPageCatId=5431

     And then we got another surprise! We had been using the pharmacy at Shoppers Food Warehouse, but when Bill told the pharmacist that we had to transfer our prescriptions to Wal-Mart, she said, “Hold it a minute.” Turns out that Shoppers has an unpublicized rule that they can meet Wal-Mart’s prices if a customer would otherwise transfer! And, come to think of it, Target also meets Wal-Mart’s prices, and I suspect quite a few others do the same if asked. It’s worthwhile to ask your druggist whether they match Wal-Mart prices on generic drugs.

     So the Dread Doughnut Hole isn’t hitting us as hard as we’d feared – and I hope this experience helps someone else in the same situation.

PARTNERSHIP FOR PRESCRIPTION ASSISTANCE

     They say, “The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America's pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that's right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free. Among the organizations collaborating on this program are the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, the Lupus Foundation of America, the NAACP, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the National Medical Association. To access the Partnership for Prescription Assistance by phone, you can call toll-free, 1-888-4PPA-NOW (1-888-477-2669).”

     Find out more about the program at

https://www.pparx.org/about.php

     The PARTNERSHIP FOR PRESCRIPTION ASSISTANCE is apparently different from the FREE MEDICINE PROGRAM (see below). Both are filling gaps in the American health system. My suggestion would be that those ineligible for the FREE MEDICINE PROGRAM go to the PARTNERSHIP FOR PRESCRIPTION ASSISTANCE.

FREE MEDICINE PROGRAM

     I was amazed to find how many programs there are for Americans who have difficulty affording medicine, medical care, and dental care. The most amazing was the FREE MEDICINE PROGRAM. If you don’t need these programs yourself, you may know people, or your church or community group may be aware of people, who need a program like this but don’t know about it.

     First, there’s the MEDICINE PROGRAM itself:

http://www.themedicineprogram.com/

     Which leads to the FREE MEDICINE PROGRAM, which, it says, is for people who:

1. Do not have outpatient prescription insurance coverage.

2. Do not qualify for government programs (e.g., Medicaid).

3. Do not have the means to pay for their medicines.

     Once qualified, people receive their medications free of charge. “You share your health-related experience with others and, in return, reward yourself with a free Prescription Card right away. You and your entire family can use our prescription card at over 48,000 pharmacies nationwide. Post more stories and get your own free Nurse Hotline, that you and your family can access 24/7 in case of emergencies. All benefits and services FREE of charge just by sharing your stories.”

http://www.themedicineprogram.com/free-medicine.html