Prescriptions & Medication Help

Pennsylvanians living with chronic diseases such as COPD, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, kidney failure, HIV/AIDS, or dementia can find it difficult to pay for the medications they need to control their symptoms and perhaps keep them from worsening over time. Even those who are insured often find the co-pays uncomfortably high. Though these folks may qualify for prescription assistance from the drug manufacturer or another source, they may not realize that such help is available. 

The Pennsylvania Drug Card is available to all Pennsylvanians, free of charge, without regard to their insurance status or income level. If you don’t already have one, you can download and print a pre-activated card and start using it right away to receive prescription discounts of up to 80% at pharmacies throughout the state.

Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program provides prescription coverage as part of the health insurance jointly sponsored by the state and federal governments for qualifying low-income residents of the state.

PACE and PACENET are Pennsylvania’s prescription assistance programs, offered through the state’s Department of Aging, for eligible seniors over age 65.

The Pennsylvania Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP, offers health insurance for the children of families that exceed the income ceiling for Medicaid but don’t earn enough for commercial or employer-sponsored health insurance. The benefits are much the same as those provided by Medicaid, but families pay a small monthly premium.

Pennsylvania’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) gives qualifying Pennsylvanians living with HIV/AIDS free or very low-cost access to their AIDS-related medications. 

Pennsylvania Rx Price Finder: Pharmacies set their own prices for cash paying customers. Price Finder is an easy way to price shop for medications. It displays the cash paying customer prices of commonly used generic and brand name drugs. Price Finder has prices by zip code, city, drug name, drug strength, drug form, quantity, and pharmacy.

For cash paying customers, the savings from comparison price shopping are obvious. Patients with prescription insurance coverage will also find price shopping useful if their coinsurance is based on a percent of the total cash price.

Price comparison shopping is a smart way to help you make your dollars go further when prices increase.

If you need financial help with purchasing drugs, you should call 800-955-0989, the Pennsylvania Patient Assistance Program. The Patient Assistance Program connects persons of any age who cannot afford the cost of their drugs with programs that may help to cover the cost.