Guest Author - Bonnie Sayers

I have seen the commercials with Montel Williams telling people about Partnership For Prescription Assistance many times and decided to delve further into what this plan consists of.

The website is www.pparx.org and has three options to start off with. Patients, Caregivers and Prescribers all have a box to click on to begin the process using an online application wizard. The phone number is 1-888-477-2669.

All have the same five steps to follow through - The first page with the three selections is step one. Step two is to search for medications, adding as many as necessary. This is done through Brand names with the results below. You click on enter this one and it goes to the left side of the page in a column so you can move onto the next medication.

There is a help topics that uses pdf reader, which I have not utilized since I did not need any assistance going through the steps. Once you are done adding the medications you click on the blue arrow at the very bottom of the page.

Step 3 is the application questions which include the following:

Age, State, Zipcode, Household Income, Number in Household, If anyone is pregnant, a listing of eight boxes asking if you are a member of any of the following:

Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran's Assistance, HMO/PPO, State Insurance, Private Insurance, None and I Don't Know.

There are questions if you clicked on the box for either Medicare or Medicaid, asking if you are currently receiving Medicare. If checked yes - Do your total assets exceed $11,500 for an individual or $23,000 for a married couple living together?

The next question asks if you are eligible for Medicaid. For yes responses the question is - Do you participate in the Medicare Savings Program, otherwise known as the Qualified Medicare Benefit or QMB or the Special Low Income Medicare Benefit or SLIMB?

Are you eligible for prescription drug coverage for any of the medications you selected? What is your current residency status? - U.S. Citizen, Legal Resident of the U.S. and Other.

Have the recent hurricanes affected your ability to get access to your prescription medications? The last question wants to know how you heard about PPA RX with options available in a drop down box.

The bottom blue arrow gets clicked on to continue through to step 4. I did several variations of step 3. I clicked on either HMO/PPO or Private Insurance, depending on whether I was doing a medication for myself or my children. We have different insurance plans and sometimes I checked that I was elgibile for prescription drug coverage. I wanted to see the various programs and plans available.

Step 4 shows the eligible programs with more information on what the plan entails. The next step is to click on select to add this plan and press the blue arrow at the bottom of the page for the final step. Here you review the results and either print out the applications either using the application wizard or without it. The next step would be to bring them to your Physician.

I went through all four steps and then did more research on all the options available for my selection medications. I am not planning on signing up for any of these plans as we currently have Prescription Drug Coverage. This site, www.pparx.org is a great way to see what is available to you and your family members based on the data and the medications you need for various conditions, disabilities, etc.

The medications I entered were Elidel, which is a cortisone cream for treating my eczema. Prednisone tablets I have taken over the years for flare ups and is a medication used to treat a multitude of ailments and illnesses. My youngest son is on a Schizophrenia drug that is an anti-psychotic used for many on the Autism Spectrum. At one time he was on Risperdal oral solution before the current Geodon. I also have Albuterol inhalers for my Asthma. I noticed that when I changed the Risperdal from Oral Solution to tablets the program was slightly different.

The eligible programs listed for all my medications are as follows:

Sun Association Card
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation Patient Assistance Program
Janssen Ortho Patient Assistance Program
Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Patient Assistance Program
Rx Outreach Express Scripts
Pfizer Connection To Care

Programs that are not a match are listed as non-matching since many of their companies have pledged that no one should have to go without their medication and are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Some of the programs listed for me were non-matching.

When I did the selection process and used Dilantin (a seizure medication my sister takes) as the medication the programs offered were -

Together RX Access
Pfizer Pfriends

It might be easier to go through the steps for one medication only and learn all about those programs and then start the process over for another med. This seems to be a less confusing way to gain insight into all the offerings and print out the data before moving onto another prescription medication.

All the programs have their own application with some having a website available to enter. Some require a copy of your latest tax return along with the application and then the written prescriptions. They have a list of the medications they offer, along with strength and which ones are known as controlled substances and the restrictions for them.

There are income restrictions, payment options, delivery options, allergies to note and current medications being taken. I will be reviewing each of these plans/programs as they have different rules and quite extensive criteria to meet.

If there are no programs that fit your application you will be directed to try either www.Rxassist.org, which is for free or low income medication assistance or www.BenefitsCheckup.org - this site has a comprehensive section that will also help find resources to assist with rent, heating bills and meals. There is a separate section for those already on Medicare to get them help.

Consumers should check out these sites to learn more on how to help family members that might not even live in the same State. I am going to look into these two sites more extensively and cover them in a future article.

Caregivers, home health care providers, Nurses, Therapists and Phsyicians can assist their patients on these by learning more about the programs and visiting the site. Printing out forms and data on the programs will educate everyone on what is available, so when the need arises information is available at your fingertips.

It is imperative in today's world to be informed of what is available to you and family members in case of a job change, or change in benefits through your current employer and for elderly relatives that are on state programs and plans.

Rxassist
Benefits Checkup
Partnership for Prescription Assistance
Sun Prescription Cards
Needy Meds (has over 800 programs listed)