Free prescription drugs and more

I had to drop my self-paid health insurance last year when I lost my job and they raised the rates to the point where it was eating up my savings so fast that I wouldn't be able to pay the rent and utilities. Fortunately, my couple of prescriptions are inexpensive, but the cost of seeing the doctor to get them renewed is still prohibitive since I'm still unemployed after all these months. So I was happy to find this information on prescription and health care assistance. I expect even if you still have a job, you probably know someone who has lost theirs, so I hope this list of organizations will be of value to others as well.

Needy Meds, www.needymeds.org has help for getting more than 4,100 medicines. They also have links to discount drug card and coupon programs and thousands of free or low-cost clinics around the country.

Partnership for Prescription Assistance, www.pparx.org, has links to about 475 programs sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, government programs, health plans and charities.

Patient Advocate Foundation, www.patientadvocate.org, has prescription assistance and also provides help paying for surgery or large copayments for medical care, help with child care and transportation for patients who need treatments. This organization features specialized case managers.

PatientAssistance.com, www.patientassistance.com has links to more than 1,000 prescription programs, and also to free clinics and programs that help cope with costs for treatment of cancer and rare diseases.

Rx Assist, www.rxassist.org, provides links to state-run assistance programs.

Rx Hope, www.rxhope.com had online assistance applications, links to medical group, patient advocate and drug company sites.

State assistance programs, www.ncsl.org/programs/ has information on drug discount cards.

Together Rx Access, www.togetherrxaccess.com offers free cards accepted at most pharmacies that can get you prescription discounts of 25-40 percent.