As the price of prescription drugs continues to increase, many Americans do not have adequate insurance coverage for this expense and they need prescription drug help. Actual spending on prescription medicine in the United States rose 17.4% from 2005 to 2006 while the average cost of prescription drugs rose 10.2%. Lower income, uninsured Americans may be forced to choose between paying for essential prescriptions or food. A recent Harris Poll of 1300 adults found that 23% of those surveyed had not filled at least 1 prescription for medicine during the year in order to save money. The problem is even greater in households with lower incomes. In households with incomes less than $25,000, 40% did not fill at least 1 prescription, and 30% took prescription medication less often than prescribed to save money. Along with multiple prescription drugs for hypertension, diabetes, or other systemic illnesses, ophthalmology patients often require long-term prescriptions for the treatment of glaucoma, uveitis, or dry eye. Ophthalmology patients may view expensive sight-saving medicine as nonessential, especially when prioritizing the many systemic prescription medicine they require each month.

There are many ways physicians can help their uninsured, low-income patient obtain their much needed medicine at no cost, directly from the drug companies. Virtually all pharmaceutical manufacturers offer assistance programs for those who have no prescription medicine coverage and whose income falls below certain levels. These programs are not widely publicized, and many ophthalmologists and other healthcare professionals may be unaware of the programs. There are several ways to obtain information regarding these programs. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (San Francisco, CA) publishes the Directory of Ophthalmic Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs for the Medically underserved. This directory was created by the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Eye Care America program. This guide is free to ophthalmologists and provides an alphabetical list of ophthalmic prescription drugs and the manufacturer of each medication. The manufacturers are subsequently listed with information regarding the assistance programs of each drug manufacturer.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) (Washington, DC) provides a list of companies providing patient assistance programs free of charge. A review of several drug manufacturer patient assistance programs reveals that these programs are currently being used by many who are aware of the programs. Patients must apply separately to each company for each medication and reapplication is typically required every 3 months. Patients may need to provide proof of income such as a tax return or notarized affidavit of financial need. Drugs are either shipped directly to the patient or to the healthcare provider’s office. Several of the applications require the physicians to fill out applications on behalf of the patient. This paperwork may be burdensome but ultimately, as the patient’s advocate, the healthcare provider may be able to ensure that patients will receive sight-saving medicine and avoid a potential decision between paying for food or paying for prescription medication.

There are several drugs assistance companies that act as an advocate for the patient and provide a valuable service. These companies will complete all the paperwork, coordinate the physician’s portion and appeal any denials, which is common. For patients that have multiple medicine and other healthcare provider in addition to their ophthalmologists these firms provide a very valuable service.

In traditional and widely used medicine (sometimes known as allopathic medicine) as practiced by many Western-educated doctors, the reliance on lab-created medications is widespread and accepted pretty much without reservation. There has been a movement, though, that is advocating for more homeopathic-oriented remedies and therapies. In this regard then, one must ask the question “Natural vs. prescription medicine: What risks are you taking?”

The question above tends to become an either/or proposition instead of what it really should be: which is what range of medicines, both natural and man-made, can be the most efficacious when it comes to healing the maladies afflicting the human condition? After all, there seems to be real and verifiable evidence that many substances found in nature have actual healing properties.

This insight into natural medicines, which has been gained sometimes only as a result of grudging acceptance by many medical practitioners educated and trained in classic Western medical schools, can be at once both helpful and yet also harmful. This is because some who advocate for an almost complete use of nature’s substances in treating ill health fail to accept that some illnesses are not susceptible to such medicinal compounds.

Surely, there are any number of illnesses or injuries which are better served through use of health foods, aroma therapies, meditation, relaxation techniques and mixtures and compounds of various roots, grasses, seeds and the like. But is every illness treatable through homeopathic remedies and therapies? Most medical professionals and dispassionate observers would say that this probably isn’t the case.

Additionally, the use of natural medicines can carry its own hazards, especially when it comes to overuse or misuse of such substances. There are cases of physical harm resulting from excessive supplementation with any number of natural compounds. Some amino acid admixtures, when taken in large doses, can lead to sometimes-fatal outcomes. This is just as true, though, when it comes to the taking of prescription medications; some of which can be extremely harmful if not taken exactly as directed.

Overall, almost every honest physician will say that people in the West have a worrying tendency to resort to prescription or even over-the-counter (OTC) packaged medicines at every turn. In actuality, they should be trying to examine their conditions and even their lives from a more holistic viewpoint.

The benefits of such a holistic approach - looking at the body as a whole — is that a person who’s beset with an illness or malady and his or her medical practitioner (whether allopath, osteopath or homeopath) can sit down, do a critical examination of all the factors impacting health and then devise an intelligent and concerted plan aimed at alleviating sickness and restoring health.

Because of this need, natural medicines can play an important role in the treatment of illness. As to whether or not they can play an exclusive role in such treatment, no honest practitioner of medicine of any type could really say that it is true. But one must be careful in not assigning excessive physical risk to natural medicines that doesn’t exist; especially when the risks of lab-created medicines are so well known.

Unfortunately, those advocates of natural medicine fail to be as understanding in their own adherence to nature’s substances as the one, true path to good health. No person suffering from possible metastatic cancer, for example, should be expected to forego medical treatment therapies or surgeries which have proven effective for a vast number of people solely to experiment with natural medicines in hopes that they’ll be even more effective. Most studies haven’t proven that to be the case, unfortunately.

In the final analysis, it has to be said that the risks being taken when trying - initially - natural medicines to treat many ailments are somewhat less than when taking some mixture cooked up in a lab. Its effectiveness depends on the ability of a person to obey directions exactly for its use, let alone how a person may react to that medication.

Happily, if the natural remedies being taken are not proving themselves effective, there is a fall back to more traditional treatments and therapies available. And when it comes to treatment of illness, the best method will always be the one which initially relies the least on extreme medical regimes.

Are you or someone you know struggling to pay for prescription medicine? If so, you may be able to identify with Peter. Pete is a retired mechanic who suffers from COPD. The majority of his income is supplied by Social Security. He also receives a small monthly pension from the factory he retired from. Pete manages to pay the rent on his tiny apartment, and pay his other bills, but he can’t afford all of the prescriptions he needs to control his condition. Medicare helps Peter out by paying for a part of his medical bills, but his Medicare Part D only pays for his prescriptions until April of each year which is when he falls into that not so sweet donut hole where nothing is covered. Up until he retired, Peter managed to keep a modest savings account in the bank. Since he’s retired, though, he’s been using his savings to buy his prescriptions every month. And now, his account is just about exhausted.

What Pete probably doesn’t know, is that he could be eligible to receive his prescription drugs directly from the manufacturers for free. The manufacturers that offer patient assistance programs are just beginning to advertise that this help is available. Most of the major drug manufacturers including Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline , Parke-Davis, Novartis, Wyeth, and nearly a hundred more offer an array of over a thousand free prescription drugs for those who qualify. The pharmaceutical companies decide if they will have a PAP and, if they do, which of their medicines will be available through the program. Some include many or all of the medicines they manufacture while others include only a few. The reasons for these decisions are not something they reveal. Sometimes a medicine or a certain dosage of that medicine will be on a program, then off, and then back on again. Or one dose of the medicine will be on the program but a different dose won’t be.

Although no two programs are exactly the same, most require that the applicant complete an application form. The amount of information required varies. Some programs require detailed medical and financial information, others very little. All require a doctor’s signature. Some patients need drugs for a long time. Most, but not all, programs that cover medicines used to treat chronic diseases offer refills. As you can imagine, this process can at times be very daunting and even overwhelming. Peter was fortunate because he was referred to a prescription assistance company by his physician and was able to receive most of his medicine directly from the drug companies for a small monthly service fee. If you or someone you know are struggling to pay for prescription medicine, I urge you to apply for assistance today. If you qualify, you can get your drugs free from one or more of the assistance programs.

If you have health insurance, your plan may or may not pay for prescription medicine. It depends on what kind of insurance you have. For example, if you have private health insurance through your employer, some or all of the cost of your medicine may be covered. If you have the traditional Medicare plan (sometimes called fee-for-service), your medicine probably isn’t covered. If you have a Medicare managed care plan, some of the cost of your medicine is probably covered. In many cases, the Medicaid plan in your state covers the cost of prescription medicines.

Some state governments offer affordable medicine programs for seniors, people who are disabled and people who have low incomes. Community health centers, Area Agencies on Aging, free health clinics and other community programs may also offer help. To use these services, you may need to show that you don’t qualify for private health insurance or that you don’t make enough money to pay for your medicine.

If you or someone you know are struggling to pay for prescription medicine, there is help available, you just need to be creative and persistent in finding it.