New alliance offers Rx help for uninsured

A few dozen Iowa organizations — ranging from physicians groups to The Grange — have joined together to try to help uninsured Iowans find the cheapest prescription meds. Christian Clymer is a spokesman for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, a national group that opened an Iowa chapter this (Thursday) morning. “We’re a group of over 35 organizations here in Iowa working together to offer patient assistance to people who are having trouble accessing their prescription medicines right now,” Clymer says. He says almost 500 different programs are available to all different sorts of people — seniors, children, the uninsured and the under-insured. According to Clymer, this is new program is a “one-stop-shop” to find help in paying for your prescription drugs. Patient groups, physician groups and groups like the Red Cross and the United Way are part of the effort. “This provides them with a tool to be able to refer people (prescription drug) programs that bring them significant help,” Clymer says. Pharmaceutical companies run about 150 prescription drug discount programs. Another 275 programs run by the government or private groups offer prescription drug assistance. Clymer estimates almost two-hundred thousand uninsured Iowans may be eligible for the program. You can find out if you’re eligible on-line at www.pparx.org. That pparx stands for Partnership for Prescription Assistance — and Rx is a symbol used at the beginning of a prescription. Rx is Latin for recipe.