Many pharmaceutical firms have established programs for patients that cannot afford prescription medications.

This section provides the web address of sources of information about these programs. You may also wish to discuss individual corporate programs with their pharmaceutical representatives.

If you have information about other programs that help patients pay for medications, please consider sharing the address with your colleagues - click here.

Another source of substantial savings on prescription medications is Costco and Sam's Club, as each have online pharmacies. Federal law says patients do not have to buy a membership to shop for drug prices.

There are sites that sell prescription drugs online. Two that we know of, but have no experience, with is discountpills.com  and drugstore.com.

As reported in Financial Assistance for Drugs Is in Site, Sagall, R., Consultant, May 2001, page 780, and Ways to Cut Drug Costs, K. Green, The Wall Street Journal Sunday, September 14, 2003..

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. A database from the industry association that tells of pharmaceutical company programs and government/private patient assistance programs. jk, 4/04

BenefitsCheckUp.org
Useful for finding savings programs. Created by the National Council on the Aging. 9/03, JK

Financial Assistance Network. Informs qualified applicants about a variety of patient assistance programs and offers consumer guides on a number of health topics, including medical care and prescriptions. 11/27/01, jk

Needymeds.com
Information on 650 programs covering nearly 1,000 drugs. 11/27/01, jk

RxHope.com
Tells prescribes and patient advocates whether patients qualify for many assistance programs. Includes the forms needed to apply for assistance. 11/27/01, jk

RxAssit.org
Also tells prescribes and patient advocates whether patients qualify for many assistance programs, and includes online forms needed to apply for assistance. Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 11/27/01, jk

TheMedicineProgram.com
" Provides assistance to patients who cannot afford their prescription medication by helping qualified individuals to enroll in existing patient assistance programs that provide medicine free-of-charge. Individuals must meet sponsoring program criteria." 11/27/01, jk

WeHelpMeds.com
Matches patients with drug programs for a yearly fee of $9.99, with information about otherwise free programs and discounted price programs. 8/05, jk