Cheaper prescriptions drive into the Q-C

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By Karla Walsh | Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:04 PM CDT | () comments

The fancy vehicle didn’t appear to have as loyal a following as the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile or an ice cream truck, but its cargo was far more valuable than hot dogs or frozen confections.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance’s Help is Here Express made a two-hour stop Wednesday morning at the Salvation Army/Community Health Clinic in Davenport. Sponsored by American pharmaceutical companies, the Partnership for Prescription Assistance has helped almost 4 million uninsured Americans, including 37,000 Iowans. The program helps pay for or completely covers the cost of 2,500 brand-name and generic medications.

“The goal of the bus is to spread the word about the programs offered through the Web site and the toll-free phone number,” said Nate Prouty, who travels with the bus.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance taps into 475 patient assistance programs, many offered by pharmaceutical companies, but others are private foundation and public assistance programs.

The Help is Here Express has aided Americans in all 50 states during its two years in operation. The bus that was in Davenport will be traveling around Iowa until next week. Two stops are made every day by each of two tour buses, including one that originally was used for rock musician Melissa Etheridge’s concert tours. Each is equipped with 10 wireless laptop computers, cell phones and two trained specialists.

At almost every location, “we encounter patients who are at first skeptical, then emotional. They had given up hope. A lot of uninsured or underinsured people don’t know where to turn for help,” said Ed Belkin, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.

Individuals who do not have prescription coverage and cannot afford their medicine can take advantage of the program. Those qualifying for assistance include working or unemployed families, senior citizens and retired people, students and single people.

“I spend $200 to $300 each month on medicine and don’t have health insurance,” said Murrell Jack, an unemployed Davenport resident. She showed up for the bus with prescriptions from her doctor and needed help with the money to get them filled.

Most people who take advantage of the program are young or middle-age adults with no primary employer. Many of them work several jobs but do not have health insurance. The majority are single moms.

While American pharmaceutical companies may be losing customers to cheaper Canadian or international pharmaceuticals, they have chosen to focus more on helping lower-income people than lowering overall prices. Belkin said the Help is Here Express is important to “those who have fallen through the cracks.”

“There will always be people who have trouble affording health care,” he said. “We help those greatest in need and connect them to patient assistance programs.”

During 2005 alone, pharmacies filled 35 million prescriptions for free at a wholesale cost of $5 billion, he added.

Individuals needing assistance enter the bus and begin filling out questionnaires on the laptops with the assistance of the specialists. If they qualify for low-cost or free medication, the program informs them. People who do not own computers or are not computer-savvy can call operators who will help guide them through the same forms, Prouty said. The operators can handle calls in 150 different languages.

Syndicated television talk show host Montel Williams is the national spokesman for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. He occasionally makes stops with the bus and helps with special events, recently delivering medical supplies to tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kan.

For more information

To learn more about the Help is Here Express or the associated programs, call the toll-free telephone number, 1-888-4PPA-NOW, or visit the Web site pparx.com.

Contact the city desk at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.