@Kim, Thank you for the compliments. I, too, am fortunate that I have excellent insurance and have not had to struggle to pay for drugs. But just the copays cost my family $600 a month! I can only hope that these difficult financial times will not change my situation so that I need the information in this post.

Editor’s note: In keeping with the comment policy of this blog, I have removed the name of the company and website links. I regret doing this since the company seems like it is doing a great service. I recommend that you search on Google for “prescription assistance.” The company — and others like it — will appear both in the advertising links to the right and in the search results.

Kim Woodbridge’s last blog post..The Downside to Being Helpful on Twitter

Although we often vilify the pharmaceutical companies, they do help people with no- or low-cost drugs. However, with all the paperwork that has to be done, I wonder how many people take advantage of it?

One thing I left out was the help available through Medicare for people who can’t afford their drugs. I’m thinking that I might go back and add it in, just for the sake of completeness.

Johnson’s “revolutionary” idea of helping people first often gets buried under stockholders’ demands for short-term profit, unfortunately. What a different world it would be if every company were to take his idea seriously!

One of my most disturbing discoveries during my graduate psychotherapy training was realizing how many people on fixed or limited income halve their prescription medication to make it last longer.

I think countries like India which tightly control medication costs have the right idea.

Robert Johnson (founder of Johnson and Johnson) was a great leader because he believed that pharmaceutical companies were about helping people first, and profit second. It’s really a very capitalistic idea – though to our ears now it seems revolutionary.

Enjoy your posts.
Alec

Alec Satin’s last blog post..How To Track Your Job Search Contacts With Highrise