Discount Prescriptions for Mainers
By Rep. Michael H. Michaud
Recently, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America (PhRMA), the organization that represents drug companies, announced a new patient assistance program called the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (www.PPARx.org). The Partnership will provide patients across the nation one-stop access to more than 275 patient assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies to provide their products at discounted prices for qualifying patients.
If Partnership for Prescription Assistance sounds familiar, it shouldit is based on the Rx Cares for ME program, a Maine specific program that has been operating since 2003.
In 2003, in the wake of massive job losses throughout the state, I joined with Senator Snowe to ask PhRMA to help Mainers gain access to lower cost medicines. The result was Rx Cares for ME, a joint effort between PhRMA and a number of Maine health organizations.
The Rx Cares for ME program pulls together the many existing patient assistance programs that provide low cost or free medicines to qualified individuals. Applying to the hundreds of existing programs has always been a confusing and difficult processone that prevented most consumers from finding a discount that worked for them. Few people even knew that such discounts existed.
Rx Cares for ME solved many of these problems. It includes a website (www.RxCaresForME.org) and toll free number (1-877-RX-FOR-ME) specifically designed to give Mainers a single, central point of access for patient assistance programs. Through Rx Cares for Maine, Mainers can determine if they are eligible for hundreds of programs that provide thousands of medicines free or at a reduced cost. Applicants are asked four simple eligibility questions, and are then given assistance in the application process in any programs for which they meet the eligibility requirements.
The fact that PhRMA took this concept to the national level shows pretty convincingly that Rx Cares for ME was a success. In the first six months of operation, Rx Cares for ME received more than 36,000 requests from Mainers, and about 40% of them found at least one Patient Assistance Program to provide low cost or free medications.
I am proud of the success of Rx Cares for ME, as it is another positive step in our fight to ensure access to affordable prescription drugs. However, there is still more that can be done.
Another approach that would work is the "America Rx" legislation that I re-introduced earlier this year. America Rx follows the model established by our state's creative MaineRx law, and brings it to the national level. It would allow the federal government to negotiate affordable prescriptions for any American without coverage. It uses the same principles of free market power and volume discounts to achieve lower costs that the Veterans Administration and private insurers have already successfully used for years.
While in Congress, I have also co-sponsored a number of other pieces of legislation that use the same kind of approach for Medicare, explicitly giving the Secretary of Health and Human Services the ability to negotiate for lower cost prescriptions through that program.
Rx Cares for ME is significant not just because of the aid that so many Maine families have received, but also because it proves that we can come together to provide creative solutions to health care problems. Clearly, we must continue to work to make prescription drugs more affordable so that nobody goes without the life saving medicines they need. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to make prescription drugs affordable to all.
http://michaud.house.gov/newsroom_details.asp?id=424