Health Care Options for Low-Income Adult?

Question:

My mom is 45 years old, is low-income, and has a medical condition that requires several medications. Her employer has discontinued her health insurance. I have looked into short term insurance plans, but none of them cover her pre-existing condition. Medicaid does not offer benefits for lo-income adults unless they have dependents, which she does not. She cannot afford her medications, and she has to pay every time she goes to the doctor. Are there any other options for her so that she can get the medical help she needs?

Answer:
For the doctor's visits, there's little that can be done. She can do some price shopping, because there can be a significant difference in the self-pay fees for doctors.

Check in your area to see if there's a low-income health clinic . . . I know there is in mine.

For the medications, a number of drug companies are offering patient assistance programs. Some states even have these programs -- she can check the website for her state government, look at http://www.pparx.com, or ask the pharmacist -- if there's an assistance program for a medicine, the pharmacist will most likely know about it.

Another route is to ask the pharmacist and doctor to work together to find the lowest-cost method for treating the illness.

Some pharmacies (such as walmart and giant eagle) have certain medications avaialbe for a severely reduced price -- if you check the company websites, you'll find a list of the medications available for like $4.00 -- that can make a great deal of difference if your mom is used to paying $35.00 a month for something like Toprol XL.

Move to Canada. they have fee health care. Our health care here sucks. Illegal immigrants get taken care of better then our own people.

Health Care Options for Low-Income Adult?

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