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Q. People with high drug bills are sometimes told to seek a "Patient Assistance Program." The drug companies run these to provide free medicine for people who qualify.
It sounds great, but for me they have not been so helpful. I filed a huge packet of information and then they came up with another question. Rather then just requesting the additional information, they denied my request and returned the entire packet for me to start over.
I was asked for a letter from my previous employer stating why my position ended. I certainly hadn't foreseen that! It took two weeks to get the packet back. Though I returned it immediately, they denied it because it did not have an original letter from unemployment about my benefits. So I am still in limbo. This whole process has taken more than six weeks.
I am in the doughnut hole, so I have no drug coverage. My unemployment payment ($345 weekly) makes me ineligible for other coverage, but my drug bills run $1,400 a month. I think patient assistance is a bit of a joke.
A. Patient assistance programs were created to provide free medicine for people who can't afford their drugs otherwise. The application process may vary from one company to another. The physician is a critical ally for such an application. There is more information about patient assistance programs at www.helpingpatients.org or 888-477-2669.
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Insurance companies and their cohorts are doing whatever they can to avoid paying. This gentleman experienced the norm. Please don't overlook the seriousness of these lacks -- they are very real, they are much more common than not. The only hope we had was public insurance and drugs priced with those in all other first and second world countries.
This gentleman needs to purchase from Canada or Israel online. Or hee could take a short trip to Spain, France, and dozens of other of the highest rated countries in health care, purchase his name brand or generic drugs and return here with savings after travel expenses.
I have never found Patient Assistance Programs helpful either. I was denied because I have a $6000 deductible, and the patient assistance program told me that my insurance paid for prescriptions after my deductible was met. Guess what my meds are for a year?..... about $6000.
I found some of the same. I tried both the company who makes the drug and at a drug assistance program. I, too, am in the doughnut hole since May. But the reasoning from both these programs wouldn't help because of all things... I've got drug coverage w/ Medicare! Finally I went to a Canadian pharmacy for the two most expensive drugs ($300) per month. We got one of the prescriptions within 7 days and the other was cheaper coming from Germany so it took about three weeks. I got one of the prescriptions 60 days for $200....the other was a 58 day supply for less than $150! I'll be ordering more from this pharmacy. By the way, when we got both, it is the very same thing I would have gotten in the US which was one of my worries...
All the information on pharmaceutical patient assistance programs plus hundreds of other programs is available for free at www.needymeds.org. Each workday over 12,000 people visit our site. We have all the applications on the website.
Our information is ease to access, updated regularly, and free. We gather no information about our users.
You don't have to pay to apply to these programs. Most are easy to apply to and respond quickly.
We also offer a free drug discount card. No registration is required and anyone is eligible to use it. The average savings is 30-40% with occasional savings of up to 75% or even more.
Rich Sagall, MD
President
NeedyMeds, Inc.
P.O. Box 219
Gloucester, MA 01931