Getting Help With Prescription Costs

The cost of prescription medication is astronomical, even if you do have health insurance. However, because many Fibromyalgia sufferers are unable to work, a lot of us are left uninsured. I was fortunate enough to get Medicaid for one month. But just one month!! Because my Medicaid runs out at the end of this month (August), I have been conducting an exhaustive search of companies and agencies that offer help in paying for my medication. Being on a fixed income with my Social Security Disability starting in September, I don’t want to spend half of that check on medication when the mortgage, car payment, utility payments, etc still need to be paid on a monthly basis. As my 21-year old son adequately puts it, “Being a responsible adult sucks!”

Regardless, it’s something we all have to do. So I have compiled a list of the companies and agencies I have found that offer assistance in paying for medications:

Needy Meds: NeedyMeds.org has information on medicine and healthcare assistance programs. They also offer a FREE drug discount card to take to the pharmacy and receive up to 70% off your medication costs. I have found it to be a one-stop shop to find medicine assistance programs. They also have healthcare assistance programs listed on this site. If I find more of the same, I'll post them in another blog.

Patient Assistance: Another free service. Sign up, enter in ALL your prescriptions, and the site will find assistance programs and coupons for the medications you entered. They also offer a FREE drug discount card to use when picking up your prescriptions!

Rx Assist: "Patient assistance programs are run by pharmaceutical companies to provide free medications to people who cannot afford to buy their medicine. RxAssist offers a comprehensive database of these patient assistance programs, as well as practical tools, news, and articles so that health care professionals and patients can find the information they need."

Partnership for Prescription Assistance: "Helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need through the program that is right for them. Many will get their medications free or nearly free." (updated 08/19/2009)

Free Rx Plus: "Free For All® Inc. is dedicated to helping you control your healthcare costs we have discounted programs, providing FREE access to Prescription Medications, Imaging Service and Lab." (updated 08/20/2009)

Dispensary of Hope: "A not-for-profit network of dispensing sites, sourcing partners and financial partners that assist people without prescription drug coverage. The network provides short-term and long-term assistance to those under 200 percent of the poverty line. Some estimates say that nearly 10 percent of our nation's population lives in this bracket every day."

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club: I signed up for this one as soon as I lost my health insurance. It has saved me at least 50% of my medication costs! There is an annual fee of $20 to $35, however.


That’s what I’ve found so far! The first three listed are FREE databanks of a myriad of programs that can help you pay for your medication. I am updating this blog post regularly with names and URLs of any new programs I find. They are also being added to my "Links" section on the right side of this page.

(((Gentle Hugs!!)))

Jessica