MedAssist program offers drug help for free

Bill Abbott was facing a decision no couple should have to make.

Abbott, 59, has been out of full-time work for more than three years. A medical condition no longer allows his wife of 34 years, Pattie, to work.

Gone were not only about $60,000 in combined annual salary, but also $55,000 in retirement savings spent on living expenses, with medical and prescription-drug bills and COBRA health insurance taking a huge chunk.

"We fought that fight for 10 months, but we couldn't cut and save our way any further," Abbott said.

With Bill and Pattie Abbott, age 55, both taking seven medications -- costing combined about $800 a month -- Bill said he knew something had to give if they were going to keep their home.

He decided it would be his health.

He stopped taking his pills to save about $300 a month. That's even though Bill already had experienced one heart attack and the placing of four stents, along with Type II diabetes and an enlarged prostate.

"It was tough to do that, but we had no other choice. I pledged to honor and protect my wife no matter what," Bill said while affectionately rubbing his wife's arm.

As Bill's health began to suffer, a local physician told them about a statewide program -- North Carolina MedAssist -- that provides free prescription drugs for low-income or underinsured residents.

The program, run by the N.C. Association of Free Clinics, has a mail-order central pharmacy to provide medications donated by pharmaceutical companies to clinics, county health departments, rural health centers and other providers.

Financing for the program comes from North Carolina's share of multistate settlements with pharmaceutical companies involving prescription drugs.

The program recently became available to residents of Davie, Forsyth and Stokes counties.

The goal is to take the program statewide in the next two years, with $1.4 million of the cost coming from an additional grant from the state attorney general's office.

Eligible are adults and children who are at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level and who have no other means for prescription medications. Those income levels are $21,660 for an individual, $29,140 for a couple and $44,100 for a family of four.

In the Abbotts' case, all of their drugs are covered by the program.

Still, Bill Abbott said he had initial reservations about the program, considering that he had worked for 41 years -- sometimes two or three jobs at a time.

"It used to be, people like me, we could find work pretty easily with my level of experience," he said. "I used to think of these programs as something for people who were trying to beat the system.

"But these aren't ordinary times, and I guess I'm part of the system now. I've got a whole lot more respect for people down on their luck.

"Do I want this kind of help? No. Am I glad this kind of help is there? Yes. It's been a real blessing."

The association has three of the 16 main pharmaceutical companies participating -- Alcon, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly -- with two more under contract, said Jason Baisden, the association's executive director. Many drug-makers have been providing free medicine to low-income individuals and families who contact them.

"It's very complicated for individuals to navigate these procedures, with different applications for each manufacturer," Baisden said. "That's why the central fill pharmacy was created -- to streamline the process to get a dependable supply of medicine into the hands of the user as quickly as possible."

For example, Baisden said, it usually takes between four and six weeks for the prescription to be filled by the manufacturer and returned to the user.

With the Central Fill pharmacy part of MedAssist, prescriptions can be filled and returned within seven to 10 days in most instances.

"MedAssist serves about 400 patients a month, but is growing rapidly," said Jim Robinson, the executive director of the Community Care Center of Winston Salem. "We receive another 400 inquiries a month."

The Crisis Control Ministry Pharmacy -- the largest free pharmacy in Forsyth County -- also participates in the association of free clinics.

"We're adding 90 to 100 clients a month as the word is getting out about the program," Robinson said. "Most of the people we're seeing now have lost their job and their health insurance."

Pattie Abbott said she and her husband have had to "swallow of lot of pride" in the past three years.

"You've got to break through this barrier and get on this program if you qualify," she said.

Another participant, Elizabeth Siler, 62, of Winston-Salem, said she had been spending close to 40 percent of her limited income on prescriptions for eye drops for her glaucoma and pills for her hormones and thyroid.

Because of a series of health problems, Siler found herself in the category of having to choose between her medicine and food until she was enrolled in MedAssist. She recently went back to working 20 hours a week.

"There are so many people who are in need of this program the way medicine has gone up so much," Siler said. "I'm sad for those people who have gone on in part because they didn't have the opportunity to participate in this program.

"I fully believe in God's provision for his children, and this program is proof of that."