Lower-Cost Options for Prescription Medications

As a physician, I’m encouraged when I hear advocates for the public’s health present programs intended to reduce the costs of prescription medications. If I were a patient with no insurance coverage to pay for medications, I’d be a bit fatigued by all the rhetoric. Thus far, the proposals are just that. Let me offer a few practical suggestions that for some may make the economic burden just a little lighter.

Patient Assistance Programs
Most pharmaceutical companies operate what are called “patient assistance programs.” These programs offer limited but reasonable amounts of medication at no or little cost and are often renewable. The medications they have available are usually a subset of their overall offering and obviously only those that they manufacture. This means that as a patient, you need to know the name of the company that produces your pills. You can ask your pharmacist or look up your medication in a reference text to learn who makes it.

Once you have that information, contact the company or visit its web site to find out more about their patient assistance program. Online, there will be a brief description of the program, the medications offered and a form to download. Some companies will send you the form by traditional mail. Take the form to your doctor’s office after completing all the information applicable to you and request that it be completed and sent in to the company. The medications will be sent to either your home or the doctor’s office for dispensation. Some advanced planning is needed due to the delays inherent in needing to complete all the aforementioned steps. These same steps may need to be repeated on a regular basis depending on the number of pills provided with each request.

The second option may be a new website formed as a result of a partnership between several pharmaceutical companies with the intent of providing a discount at the time of purchase. To receive an application for the program you can call 1-800-865-7211 or head to the Internet and log on to www.togetherrx.com. This program has made about 150 medications available at a 15-40% discount when presenting a card to the pharmacist. Users must be Medicare eligible, have no other prescription coverage, and meet income guidelines (if single, less than $28,000/yr and if married, less than $38,000/yr).

A third method is to ask your doctor to prescribe the medication that is the best value and where possible to use generics. The main downsides to generics are that they might need to be taken more frequently, can have slightly more prominent side effects, and in some cases may not be as strong as some of the newer medications. That said, they often still can do the job. For example, the newer anti-ulcer drugs or so-called proton pump inhibitors are very effective. If you’re concerned about cost and not having severe symptoms, ask your doctor for one of the older (and cheaper) H-2 blockers first.

Lastly, price-shop at the point of sale. Ask your pharmacist if he or she is aware of other medications that may be just as effective and cost less. If so and if your immediate health is not at risk, consider only having a few days of the script filled, giving you time to go back to your doctor with a request for a change. I called a pharmacist who indicated a willingness to answer such questions and said that these questions not often asked.

Readers will also recall that in a previous HealthLink column called Is It Possible To Reduce Medication Costs?, I wrote about methods available to purchase medications from Canada.

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