Things You'll Need:
- Internet
- Current paystubs
- your personal information
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Step 1
With so many job losses during this time some of you may also be losing your health insurance. Whether maybe it's because you couldn't afford the COBRA payments or your job didn't offer insurance in the first place. There are many options to choose from whether you need health insurance or just prescription assistance there is a program to assist you.
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Step 2
Your first place to try would be www.pparx.org . This is the Partnership for Prescription Assistance program. You may recognize this one as Montel Williams has promoted this company for years. This website allows you to enter your basic information and the prescription drugs you take and it will tell you which government and private programs you are eligible to. It only takes about 5 minutes to fill out the short questionnaire. You can submit all your information one time, check all the programs you want to apply for and it will complete all the applications for you. You will just need to print them out and sign (sometimes you may need to answer a few questions by hand), then mail it in.
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Step 3
If you just need prescription assistance the best thing you can do is find out who makes the medication you are taking and find the company's website. On the website you will find their assistance programs and sometimes coupons for their medicines. You can find a list of manufacturers at Drugs.com here is the link http://www.drugs.com/pharmaceutical-companies.html
Once you have located the manufacturer of your medication you would look for "patient assistance programs". If it is not easy to find on their website it can sometimes be found by looking through their "site map", usually a websites site map link can be found at the very bottom of the page. If you can't find it don't give up just give them a call. A lot of companies will send you back to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance's website to fill the application out. -
Step 4
Sometimes the best help can be found right under our nose. Almost every county in the country has a low income health clinic and sometimes a dental clinic. These clinics will look at your income to determine how much you will pay. This is called a sliding scale fee. Normally it is never more than $35 to see a doctor and their also have discounts on shots and medication. Some will even give you enough sample medication to last you for as long as you need for you medical situation. You can find a link to your nearest clinic at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website here http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/
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Step 5
If you still can't find the assistance you need you should locate the closest "teaching hospital" near you. These hospitals will change you a lower fee because they will have the students see you. This is how doctor's get their experience. An example of a teaching hospital would be Loma Linda University http://www.llu.edu/ or UCLA http://www.ucla.edu/healthsci.html .
Comments
believeinfamily said
on 8/30/2009 Nice article. I had no idea that you could apply for health care insurance assistance online. 5*
soanyway said
on 8/27/2009 This is great information. Most of us don't have health insurance and if we ever did could not afford Cobra! Thanks I have recomn'd you. Pay it forward to all! ;-)
gahazeleyes said
on 8/1/2009 Very informative. Thanks 5*****