I'm on a med that costs $2300/month.....needless to say that's quite a bit more money than I get for one month....so I would not only not be able to buy food, but nothing else either. I can't afford that med even with a prescription coverage . With the donut hole, I would have to pay the co-pay for several months along with paying for the prescription coverage....then $4000/year (2 months of the med I would have to pay the full amount on through the donut hole while still paying for the prescription coverage).... then go back to paying the normal co-pay. Definitely better to have no drug coverage & let the pharmaceutical company pay for the whole amount.

Actually, I don't qualify for patient assistance because my disability amount is too high for the federal cut of amount.....but they take my appeal because of financial/medical need & I end up getting the patient assistance. It took me a long time to get it all worked out because they don't offer you that information about the appeal. I'm in the process of getting it renewed right now. It's always stressful....but definitely worth it for the coverage.

I don't use any other meds except the ones for my dog which I also get through the pharmacy. My pharmacist helps me get the lowest cost with what drug coverage assistances that they have through the drug store. My vet refused to give me a prescription to start with....until I forced him because of the high price he was charging me for the med verses what I could get it for through the pharmacy even without drug coverage....which my dog doesn't have anyway...lol.

The mark up on drugs is crazy......I know that a lot is put into research for improvements on the drugs.....but they had a manufacturing problem with the patches I'm on last year. They found the med crystallized on some of the patches, the FDA got involved & stopped their manufacturing all together until they could solve the problem. They got the meds out into the pharmacies that had passed inspection, but for several months, I had to drive around to several pharmacies to get the number of patches I required.