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Published in the Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS April 1998 issue, by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. |
Pharmaceutical Financial Assistance Programs for HIV DrugsMark Bowers Access to new anti-HIV drugs and to the many drugs used for the treatment of opportunistic infections continues to be a problem for many Americans. People whose insurance coverage includes reimbursement for prescription drugs and those who access their healthcare through Medicaid can receive most prescription drugs without worrying about how they will pay for them. AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) in many states reimburse the cost of different lists of drugs that have been approved for people who do not have good insurance or Medicaid coverage. Unfortunately, each state's ADAP formulary includes different anti-HIV drugs, and some ADAP run out of money to pay for drugs before the end of the fiscal year. Other ADAP operate on a lottery system. Drugs are covered only for some of the eligible individuals. What are the options for the many people who need anti-HIV drugs, but who cannot personally afford them and cannot access them through government sources? Most large pharmaceutical companies have established programs to help individuals in need receive the drugs they require. Many programs have been developed in response to direct pressure from community advocates, who maintain that the pharmaceutical industry is part of the American healthcare system, and must respond with compassion to the needs of all. Ensuring access to life-extending new and existing drugs is a full-time job for many AIDS advocates. The accompanying chart shows a list of drugs used to treat HIV infection and opportunistic infections, arranged alphabetically by manufacturer. The programs that have been established to provide free drugs require the participation of a physician. Since physician time is limited by increasing case loads and decreased allocations of time per patient, the charts are designed to save time and to eliminate duplicated efforts. Column 3 details the information that needs to be gathered before telephoning the pharmaceutical company representative. The amount of drug that can be requested at one time is indicated in column 5. Special requirements and unusual characteristics of each program are highlighted, including programs that are not yet open, programs that have limitations and the usual delay for receiving a requested drug. The federal poverty level for unmarried individuals is $7,980. For married couples it is $10,610, and for each additional dependent who may legally be claimed an additional $2,720 may be earned before exceeding the poverty level. The expression "200% of poverty level" means to multiply by 2 whichever figure individually applies. If you earn less than that amount, you are eligible for the access program. It is BETA's hope and belief that healthcare access problems will not forever plague people with HIV and AIDS. Meanwhile, we hope that these charts will help people with AIDS and their physicians to understand and learn to navigate efficiently the widely differing indigent access programs for HIV drugs. Research for this table was done by Amber Field of BETA's editorial production staff. [Table will be posted to this site by May 8, 1998 -- sorry about the inconvenience. -- SFAF Webmaster] Page last updated 5 May 1998 |
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