Prescription Savings

The increasing costs of prescription drugs, combined with a lack of prescription drug coverage, is leaving patients without the medication they need. Fortunately, help is available.  A national study has shown that 17% of the population lacked any type of health insurance whatsoever. Even more amazing, a staggering 26% did not have insurance covering prescription drugs.

Those numbers are escalating as drug prices continue to grow.  The AFL-CIO Task Force on Prescription Drugs reports there are a few factors that contribute to the quick increase in prescription drug expenditures: a.) the increasing number of prescription drugs per person; b.) the availability of newer, more expensive prescription drugs that replace older, less expensive medicines; and c.) the price increases of existing drugs. In response, governments have tried to control increasing prices by limiting the useage of prescription medicine, pressuring pharmaceutical companies for price breaks, and changing the Medicare payment system.  It is estimated that total spending by and for Medicaid beneficiaries will more than triple over the next decade, from $71 billion in 2001 to $228 billion in 2011.

Having a condition or disease can put a lot of strain on a person’s body and mind.  To compound the problem further, many patients have low income, with little or no drug insurance and limited “disposable” income which can be designated for medical care.  Even those with medical insurance know there are no guarantees: many have had to meet increasing deductibles and had drugs go partially covered – or totally uncovered. There are several ways around every healthcare roadblock.

Lack of insurance coverage is a prescription for disaster, while most drug costs are quickly escalating, the cost of brand name drugs is escalating even more quickly. Can you take the generic version of your medicine? Ask your doctor and pharmacist if your prescriptions can be filled with the lower-cost generics.  In some instances, this isn’t possible because the brand names are more efficacious than their generic alternatives. Many healthcare providers will assist their patients by giving free samples of the prescription medicine. While samples are not a permanent solution they can help in time of need.  Ask your healthcare provider.

One of the best ways to get low cost or free prescription medicine is to talk to the manufacturer. Contact the company and ask about their Prescription Assistance Program.  Almost all drug companies offer these programs, which enable patients to receive prescription drugs they need at a price they can afford.  You and your physician will need to complete an application. Patient Assistance Programs run by manufacturers have been in existence for over 17 years. These programs are designed to assist eligible patients who can’t afford their prescription drugs due to limited income or other financial hardships.  Pharmaceutical companies did not want their low income customers to be forced to make a choice between paying for life saving prescription medicine or for paying for rent or groceries.  As a result, patient assistance programs came into being as part of the company’s philanthropic efforts. Until relatively recently, very few patients knew about the existence of these programs or could follow the complicated application process that was necessary for participation. In many cases several applications had to be filed with several different drug manufacturers in order to gain access to a prescription advocacy program.

 The manufacturers seem to believe that providing information on their websites and toll-free numbers is essentially all that people need to access PAPs. They just don’t understand the inability of many patients, particularly those on multiple prescriptions from 2 or more physicians to follow through with the confusing application process. It also places an unfair burden on the doctors that are already overburdened with paperwork. Fortunately there are companies that will perform the task for people for a fee. These prescription assistance companies will generally coordinate the process from beginning to end. Of course the prescription assistance is free and if people are capable of doing it themselves they should, but for those people that just do not have the ability to do it themselves, the hiring of a company to do the job is a better option than not taking the prescriptions they need.