By Peggy Noonan

Coping with cancer or other serious illnesses is difficult enough without the added burden of struggling to pay for the expensive prescription medicines you need to get well and stay well.



The good news is that help is available from individual drug companies like AstraZeneca [1]. AstraZeneca makes Nexium, Arimidex, Crestor, and others drugs used to treat heart disease, metabolism, breathing, digestive, and other disorders.



AstraZeneca Patient Assistance Programs director Karissa Laur says the company makes great medicines, but the best drugs don't do any good if patients don't have access to them. Many patients "do not have any type of health insurance or prescription drug coverage," says Laur. They face "challenges in trying to treat their condition if they do not have access to medications that have been prescribed by their physician."



That's why the company set up its patient assistance programs in 1978. They started by providing help for women who couldn't afford Nolvadex, a breast cancer drug.



In the last five years, the program has given patients who lacked prescription drug insurance more than $3 billion worth of medicines. In 2007, they saved nearly half a million patients more than $500 million on prescription costs.



Today, the company offers three "AZ & Me" prescription assistance programs [2].



If you don't have insurance

If you qualify for AZ's Prescription Savings Program for people without insurance [3], you may be eligible to receive up to a 90-day supply of your prescribed medicine at no charge, delivered to your doctor's office or your home, with refills when needed. You can enroll for one year and reapply at the end of that year. You'll also get one-on-one support to find out about and access other health and medicine coverage and services you qualify for.



If you have Medicare Part D drug coverage

If you qualify to enroll in this program [4] and are taking one of the drugs this program covers, you'll pay no enrollment fee. Your prescriptions shouldn't cost more than $25 for a typical 30-day supply of AstraZeneca medicines. You can select a 30-, 60-, or 90-day supply when you fill your prescription. You must be enrolled in Medicare Part D. The actual cost depends on your income level.



If you use certain healthcare facilities

This program is designed to help low-income patients of certain hospitals [5], community health centers, and free clinics. You can use this Web site [6] to see if your hospital qualifies for this program. If the facility where you receive care is not enrolled, they can visit the AstraZeneca Web site or phone to request an application kit.

How to apply

After your physician gives you a prescription, your first step is to find out whether you're eligible for AZ programs by filling out an application.


"The application is very straightforward," says Laur.


Eligibility is determined by factors such as your income level, other prescription coverage, and whether your prescription is for an AstraZeneca medication. If you're not sure, check the list of medicines on the Web site [7] or ask your physician or pharmacist.



Where to get an application

You can get an application--as well as help filling it out--in several places:

• Your doctor's office (ask the doctor's staff to help you fill out the form)
• Your pharmacist
• Advocates such as social workers, clinic or community health case managers, or volunteers who work with community organizations, faith-based organizations, and senior centers
• Download the application in English [8] or in Spanish [9] from the AstraZeneca Web site, fill out the form, then print, and mail it
• Complete it online [10], then print, and mail the completed form
• Enroll by phone: call 1-800-AZandMe (1-800-292-6363). You'll talk to a customer service representative who will take your information, complete the form for you, send it back to you to verify everything on it is accurate, then you'll sign and send the form back to the company.

"Through any of these channels, it takes anywhere from five to seven days before somebody processed through the system gets access to their medications," Laur says.


If you don't qualify for any of these programs, the AstraZeneca Web site lists other resources that might be able to help [11].



You can look for help from these organizations as well:

• Partnership for Prescription Assistance [12]
• Rx Assist [13]
• Rx Outreach [14]

This information should get you started on finding financial help for paying for your prescriptions. Plan to spend several hours researching your options, talking to doctors and administrators, and filling out forms. This investment of time now should help your bank account in the future.



Peggy Noonan [15] is a freelance writer who specializes in health, including conventional and alternative (holistic) medicine.