With the sinking economy and soaring health care costs, a lot of people are forced to make difficult choices between medicine and other necessities.
When Haralee Weintraub was diagnosed with breast cancer it was not only physically and emotionally devastating, but also financially; even though she had insurance.
"It ended up costing us $20,000 dollars out of pocket from co-pays and drugs,” Haralee Weintraub, breast cancer survivor, explained.
There were times when she even considered giving up medications because she couldn't afford them.
"It's very scary to have to think that, 'Do I really need this one pill that might ease my nausea is over fifty dollars. How nauseous am I?' And that's not great," Haralee said.
Now, a growing number of state and local governments, doctors' offices, non-profit agencies and businesses offer co-pay cards to help people like Haralee. Some of the cards are free, while others have a small fee.
"Co-pay cards are sort of a relatively new phenomenon,” Elizabeth Messenger, Outreach and Education Manager of NeedyMeds.org, told us. “We've really seen an increase in pharmaceutical companies putting these out."
"Manufacturers are making a lot of effort to allow patients to stay on medicine. They want to ensure the patient can afford the medicine or the co-pay of the medicine,” Seth Ginsberg, President of Global Healthy Living Foundation, added.
These co-pay assistance cards currently cover nearly 300 medications. And anyone with insurance can use them. All you have to do is take the card into your local pharmacy and get a discount off your co-pay at the register.
For example: Haralee Weintraub used the co-pay cards and saved about $600 in one year.
A recent study in the Journal of Oncology Practice found the price of medicine is directly related to whether it's taken. So, it's helpful to hear nearly 50% of the brand name drugs on the market have discounts or coupons to help cushion the cost of the co-pay.
"Those dollars add up. The co-pays month to month become real savings that people can then apply toward very legitimate costs that in today's economic climate are very burdensome,” Seth Ginsberg said.
If your community isn't offering a discount card, you may find one on the web site for the company that manufactures the drug you need. You can also check out non-profit groups like
Needymeds.org. They list several resources that offer patient payment assistance and discount cards.
