How To Get Help For Your Medication

The recent financial downturn has affected loads of american's power to pay for their prescription drugs. Help with prescription medicine is available. Some prescription medicine companies are responding with enhanced medicine support. Merck, which produces Singulair for asthma, Januvia for diabetes and Fosamax for osteoporosis, increased the amount of total annual income a household can get paid and still become certified for free of charge prescription drugs in March. Persons making less than $43,000 and families of four making less than $88,000 at the moment can become certified for assistance with prescription medication. Merck says it has helped 1.8  million patients with $1.7  billion of prescription medication over the last seven years. Help for prescription medicine is available from other companies also.

"We are committed to helping patients, and that commitment is evident in the $140 million of financial assistance we provided in 2008," representative Shannon Altimari from drug creator Biogen states. Biogen Idec offers help for prescription drug Avonex and Tysabri which is used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Pfizer announced a program at an earlier time this year called Maintain that provides complimentary prescription medicine to out of work Americans who require prescription medication help. Maintain is only one of several patient assistance programs that the company offers.

AstraZeneca just announced that it was altering its prescription medication assistance program to provide aid earlier to particular individuals. The company's plan provides free of charge drugs or low-cost medicine to uninsured, low-income patients. AstraZeneca said in a statement that it "would immediately extend assistance to qualifying patients who have lost their jobs, had their incomes reduced or had a change in marital status or family size". The company said these types of patients had been having troubles qualifying for prescription medication since their tax returns showed excessively high an income. Qualifying Americans can at this point join by providing documentation of their recent wages and family size, AstraZeneca said.

Matthew Wilson is a patient that has experienced such troubles. The 47 -year-old business owner was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1999 . His earnings from social security and a little disability policy only just covers his mortgage, medical bills, and other living expenses. "I have tried all sorts of things to see if I can find prescription assistance," he claims. He called the prescription drug companies, Social Security, and his physician's staff. He has moreover followed numerous leads on the Internet and ultimately found a company that would process all of the red tape for him.

His medicine cost over $475  a month and his health care costs are more than $400  per month. "There were times when I have had to omit taking my medicine for a day or two," he admits. He is not sure what the future holds for him but at least nowadays he is receiving the aid with prescriptions that he wants.

 

Tagged with: Diabetes • free medicine • health • help with prescriptions • pap • prescription assistance • prescription help • rx help