Where can I find financial assistance for prescription drugs? We’ve been hearing about this a lot. As you know, the medical service is not the only thing that is expensive in United States. The drugs are often expensive too, especially those to treat serious illness. Fortunately, there are several assistance programs coming from various sources, including the federal or state government, drug companies or nonprofit organizations.
Where to Get Financial Assistance for Prescription Drugs?
Below are the common sources of drug-related assistance available in the United States:
States Prescription Assistance Programs
States recognize the need of medical prescription for people who are coming from a low income family. This may include the disabled, single parents, the elderly, and other at-risk population which income is lower than standard. The policy (and also the name) of these programs may be a bit different from state to state, but in most cases they are available as the State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program (SPAP), administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. You can learn more about this program by contacting the responsible department.
Drug Companies Program
There are several drug companies that provide their drugs for free for eligible applicants as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Program. Usually the company provides the application form through their official website. There are several things that you need, which are your medical record, information about prescriptions and the proof of your financial condition. If there’s no application form available on their site, we recommend you to contact them via email. Eligible people will receive a supply of drugs as assistance. This supply may be sent to your home or your healthcare provider’s clinic / office.
Programs from Nonprofit Organizations and Foundations
There are several organizations and foundations that may be capable to provide some form of financial assistance for prescription drugs. Some are available solely for the purpose of providing low-cost prescription drugs for various kinds of diseases; while some other focuses on a single specific area or specific disease.
One of your best bets would be the foundation for the specific disease (such as foundation for breast cancer). Usually this kind of foundation provides various assistance programs including grants that can be used for transportation, child care, prescription drugs, etc.
You can also contact the Partnership for Prescription Assistance for help. This nonprofit organization can help people who are low income and have no medical insurance to get the needed free or low cost drugs or medication.
If you are looking for information, contacting the NeedyMeds would be a great idea. This nonprofit organization’s database is pretty big, and it consists of information related to programs that may be able to provide medication or drugs for needy people. Everything can be found on their website so we extremely recommend you to visit them and search for the program that suits you.
Last but not least, you can also contact the United Way through their call line at 211 or their website. This is also a great service that provides valuable information for various purposes, which may also include financial assistance for prescription drugs.
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