PSP Marketing Team Article
Are Free Pills Available?
23rd August 2004
To counter the claim that they were selling the same pills to foreigners for a fraction of the cost, US drug companies started a scheme that offered free pills to low income people. The scheme is known as the Medication Assistance Program.
We have received plenty of correspondence from people who are not impressed with the scheme.
Consumers just want the same fair go that is given to people in many countries with more affordable medications. Please send in your views for and against and we will publish your comments. You never know, your comments may stimulate discussion and a major review of prescription drug affordability for us all.
To summarise, the intention of the Medication Assistance Program is to provide prescription drugs to low-income people.
- Eligibility: Families with a yearly income of less than $25,000 and individuals who make less than $18,000 a year.
- How it works: Drugs are sent to the office of the physician or to the patient. Five to seven weeks are needed to approve eligibility.
- Who pays: The program is supported by the drug makers.
- Is the scheme working effectively?
A common complaint is there are 147 pages to fill in to verify your eligibility. It also requires patients to go through most of the form with a doctor.
Many people have given up on it.
Now, the service providers like the OU Medical Centre Oklahoma have also given up on the scheme.
The OU Medical Center retail pharmacy, which annually filled 80,000 prescriptions, closed because it was losing $3 million a year.
The 10-year-old pharmacy served hospitals in a medical center complex, providing many free or low-cost prescription drugs to Oklahomans who have little or no medical insurance and who cannot pay for medications.
It was reported that losses were suffered for a multitude of reasons,
but primarily it is related to the numbers of unreimbursed medications
that were dispensed to patients.
The Medication Assistance Program only covered about 20 percent of the
medications filled through the pharmacy.
While some supplies of prescriptions were provided free to OU Medical Center retail pharmacy, the centre often completely filled prescriptions without any reimbursement or compensation.
Please tell us about your experiences in sourcing medications - good
or bad. To follow the correspondence, or to provide updates to your friends,
please visit:
http://www.drugstorebestbuys.info/psp-archive/psp-archive.htm.
You can also subscribe to an opt-in email service to receive free bulletin
updates.
With all the issues surrounding the big pharma Medication Assistance Program, what are the viable options for people who are neither destitute nor very wealthy. i.e.: The vast majority of Americans?
At present the best low cost option we can see are generic brands purchased
from Canada or Mexico or discount brand lines from USA online pharmacies.
Please review the best pharmacy options on:
http://www.drugstorebestbuys.com/onlinepharmacieslist.htm
Regards
Rick O'Shea
www.drugstorebestbuys.com
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