Resources for Free or Discounted Prescription Medications

General Discount Cards

RxSavingsPlus is a free prescription discount card, to help lower the price of your medication. It can be used at CVS Pharmacy, Target, Rite Aid and 60,000 participating pharmacies nationwide. Get an average of 22% off the retail price of drugs

Together Rx Card (800) 865-7211 Most cardholders save 25%–40% on brand-name prescription products: Over 300 prescription products are included, Savings are available on generic drugs as well.

Your RX Card You can receive up to 75% saving at more than 50,000 national and regional pharmacies. Participating pharmacies include the following: Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, Phar-Mor, Wal-Mart, Eckerd Drugs, Publix, Winn Dixie, Kroger, Safeway, Medicine Shoppe and Target as well as thousands of independent pharmacies. With your name and email address you can print out a prescription discount card. There is NO additional paperwork to fill out to qualify.

MedSave.com The Drug Card America card may be used at over 45,000 pharmacies nationwide, including most major chains. Generic prescriptions available at discounts up to 50% off retail prices. Brand name prescriptions available at discounts up to 15% off retail prices.  This free program is being sponsored by a non-profit organization to help Americans lower their prescription drug costs. Simply download the free Prescription Drug Card and receive savings of up to 75% at more than 54,000 national and regional pharmacies.

Programs that help Patients find Assistance

RxAssist Directory of Patient Assistance run by pharmaceutical companies to provide free medications to people who cannot afford to buy their medicine. RxAssist offers a comprehensive database of these patient assistance programs, as well as practical tools, news, and articles so that health care professionals and patients can find the information they need all in one place .

Partnership for Prescription Assistance
(888) 4PPA-NOW.
Helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need through the program that is right for them. Many will get their medications free or nearly free.

NeedyMeds.org has information on medicine and healthcare assistance programs.

RX Outreach sells generic brand drugs. You can use Rx Outreach regardless of your age or if you use another discount medicine program or patient assistance program. The program offers prescription medicines to uninsured individuals and families, as well as those who have limited prescription drug coverage.

WorkingCaregiver.com delivers resources to help families with parent care decisions.

Federal Citizen Information Center has information on Generic drugs

BenefitHouse.com offers discount healthcare programs

Jim Lubin's disAbility Resources has resources for free or discounted prescription medication programs.

Free Medicine Program helps patients obtain free prescription drugs.

Pharmacy Connections (888) 435-3377. (Washington State) provides consumers information to help them access public and private programs that can help them save money on some or all of their prescription drugs.

BenefitsCheckUp maintained by The National Council on Aging (NCOA), is a web-based service to screen for benefits programs for seniors with limited income and resources.

Pharmaceutical Company Programs

Lilly Cares A patient assistance program that helps needy US residents get access to medications made by Eli Lilly and Company.  LillyMedicareAnswers provides eligible Medicare recipients access to affordable medications outside of their Medicare Part D plan. (877) 795-4559..

Novartis Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc.(800) 277-2254.  Provides assistance to patients experiencing financial hardship who have no third party insurance coverage for their Novartis medicines.

Pfizer's Patient Assistance Program(800) 717-6005.  A family of assistance programs for uninsured and underinsured patients who need help getting Pfizer medicines. Some programs also offer reimbursement support services.

Glaxo-Smith-Kline's US Patient Assistance programs offer many of their medicines free or discounted to qualified patients. Their three programs in the U.S are: Bridges to Access for non-cancer medicines, Commitment to Access, for oncology and specialty pharmacy medicines, and GSK Access for GlaxoSmithKline non-oncology prescription medications at no cost to Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan enrollees.

Merck Patient Assistance Program  Provide free Merck medications to eligible people who have no prescription drug coverage and cannot afford their medicines. Merck Prescription Discount Program provides Merck medicines for those who have no prescription drug coverage– regardless of age and income.

Schering-Plough Resources and Information Schering-Plough Cares.  Helps low-income patients who do not have commercial prescription drug insurance coverage. The Commitment to Care program is designed to ensure that eligible individuals, including Medicare beneficiaries who meet the criteria, have access to Schering-Plough’s cancer and hepatitis drugs.

Other Resources

Search out other links:  You can enter the brand name of the drug into a search engine to find a site for that drug with accompanying information about patient assistance. Or there will be a link to the manufacturer’s website.

Other ways to save on medications:  Ask your doctor about free samples he could give you, about starting with a smaller trial prescription to make sure the drug will work for you and you can tolerate side effects, about whether a less expensive generic equivalent would be acceptable, about whether there are any equivalent over-the-counter medications, or about whether you could get a double dosage of the medication and split the tablets for your regular dosage to save on the cost.  Your doctor might also know about assistance programs offered by the drug manufacturers