Brian Therrien:  So, let’s get started.  What I’m going to do is I’m going to record this call, so if you miss any of it you can come back and get it and, again, I want to thank you for joining the, you know, how to eliminate current pay and affordable treatment options conference.  And what I would like to do to get started today is just do a general round of introductions so we can kind of get a feel for who’s out there.  So, it goes like this.  For...on the count of three, what I would like everybody to do is just say where they’re calling in from and their name all at once so we can kind of get an idea for who’s out there on the call today.  So, here we go.  On the count of three, in no particular order but everybody at once, one, two, three, who’s out there?  Alright.  Alright.  Great.  Welcome.  I’m Brian Therrien for those of you who don’t know me and thanks, again, for joining.  So, let’s see.  What I would like to do, first of all, is to get started is I’m going to mute some lines here so bear with me.  Great.  Mary, you still there?

Mary:  Yeah.  I’m still here.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.  Good.  The first thing that we want to cover today is how to find affordable treatment options.  And let me just set the table for this topic.  Most of the people that are on the call today fall into two general categories.  Either insured or uninsured.  And for somebody that has just, perhaps, getting out of work and going to file for disability and goes through the process, they have, you know, Cobra insurance, perhaps, for awhile.  Typically, if they get denied and their application process is long, then they become uninsured until their Social Security Disability kicks in and thus their treatment for their condition becomes limited unless they’re paying out of pocket, which becomes difficult.  So, that continues until...if somebody gets approved for disability, it’s a 24-month waiting period for Medicare.  So, there’s a few exceptions to that, but that’s the vast majority of people unless your income and asset level is really low, then you’re able to get on Medicaid.  So, the key to the whole thing is...one of the keys to winning a disability case is to have consistent treatment throughout the time that you’re applying, because Social Security wants to see that you’re actually getting better and, frankly, most people want to get better.  So, we’ve...there’s...there’s no clean cut answer to this, but we do have a really great success story, today of an area where you could go and look and see if it might help you out.  So, what I want to do is...Mary Seroski who is a member of the Disability Digest, does a lot of work in helping us run the community, has a little background information about a company called, actually is it Prescription for Partnership Medication.  Is that what it is, Mary?

Mary:  PPARX.  It’s Prescription...I’m not really sure what it stands for.

Brian Therrien:  I’m going to pull the website up.  PPARX.  So, let me understand, you...so that everybody knows, Mary’s applying for disability, suffers from fibromyalgia and has been able to...you’ve been able to get some or all of your meds taken care of, paid for?

Mary:  One-half my meds free.

Brian Therrien:  Wow.

Mary:  100% free.

Brian Therrien:  100% of your meds are free?  Okay.

Mary:  About half of my meds, yeah, more than half of my meds are free and what happens is, if you...if you have to take a brand medication, you know, like Lunesta or Provojil or anything like that that has a brand name, you go to this site and you key in where it says, patient click start, and you key in there and you will key in, okay, and it depends on the doctor that’s giving it to you.  You’ve got to remember, when you’re working with this, it depends on the doctor...you do it by doctor.  If one doctor’s giving you some...certain medications, you’ve got to remember that.  You just...you type in the medication and you do a search and then you click on the medication and then you do the next one and next one, and all just coming from the one doctor.  What this program does, this site does, it has gone out and accumulated all the forms from all the pharmaceuticals that will give the medication free if you meet their requirements.  And the requirements are that you are low to no income and that your doctor has...is giving you this medication and that’s about it really.  Then they will turn around and the site will have like a wizard and it’ll fill in part of the form for you and then all you have to do is print it out and you take it to your doctor and the doctor will fill in his part and you have to have a 1040 from your last year’s income and you attach it and you mail it in and then they will send you a letter back saying, you know, you’ve been approved and the doctor will give you a prescription and all you have to...and you will receive a card, looks like an insurance card, that goes with it and you take it to your pharmacy and from then on you get like a years free prescription of your medication.

Brian Therrien:  This is amazing.

Mary:  Every month and get it free.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.

Mary:  And I’m getting free...I’m getting Cymbalta free, I am getting Lunesta free, I am getting Ultram free, and see what else...

Brian Therrien:  So, so, this this could be thousands of dollars a year?

Mary:  Yes.  Quite a bit.  Yes.

Brian Therrien:  Amazing.

Mary:  That’s exactly it.  Plus, on the other side of it, for the pills that are not...are generic, this thing will also print out things for discounted generics if you need...if you take generics.  It will have cards for generic drugs, too.

Brian Therrien:  Um-hum.

Mary:  And...but the plus side, too, if you are a member of Costco for any reason, they have a pharmacy.  They have a special plan for those who have no insurance.  They will even discount more and I’ve been getting my generics really great deals over at Costco.  A lot cheaper than I can get anywhere else and I save a ton of money.  It’s like I’m better off without insurance than I am with insurance, I can tell you that.

Brian Therrien:  You’re the first person I’ve heard that has said that.

Mary:  Well, its like that.  My doctors have given me a discount on his fees and and treatments and, you know, it’s always...it takes a little...it’s research work and talking to people and you can come out ahead, you know, by communication and research and you can come out ahead and not need insurance.  Now, it comes to a point, you know, if you have to go to the hospital or something then, yeah, it will come in handy.  But, right now, I’ve been able to, you know, I’m going to physical therapy free.  I do aqua therapy on my Fibro in the pool.  I do that for free.  I work out free there.  They’ve got me on what they call a scholarship, so I never have to pay for that.  I heard that even the Y will let you get in for free if you’re doing it for physical therapy.  The YMCA.

Brian Therrien:  These are great tips.  So, Mary, let me ask you, if somebody is going to go through the process for PPARX, do you have any tips for them?  Anything that you could share with those that are going to go through the process that might, you know, make it smoother for them?

Mary:  Well, when they’re going through the form, there’s some fields they have to fill in.  Don’t fill in all the fields.  They give you a lot of fields to fill in.  Just fill in the ones that say you have to fill in and then as you go through, then it will print out and it’ll print out, you know, these are the areas that will...you qualify for and one of them will be the company that makes the brand medications and when you are...and you select that company and then when you...it’ll save it as a PDF file and you download that...

Brian Therrien:  Um-hum.

Mary:  ...and then you can print that and fill in the rest of the gaps.  Because sometimes if you fill in all the fields, then the company may not pop up.  So, it’s not a perfect system.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.

Mary:  But, it does work.  The other two drugs and I get free that I forgot are Imitrex and Topamax.  I also get those two free.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.  That’s a total of what, five drugs you’re getting free?

Mary:  Yeah.  So, far as I can think of.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.

Mary:  But, yeah, and that’s thousands of dollars worth.  But, the Provigil, itself, is very ext...in fact, the insurance wouldn’t even let me have Provigil and now I’m getting 30 days worth free.

Brian Therrien:  Wow.  Great.

Mary:  The Lunesta, the insurance would only let me have them 14 days a month.  I’m getting 30 days a month now, free.

Brian Therrien:  Um-hum.

Mary:  So, it’s better than insurance like I said.

Brian Therrien:  Um-hum.  Good.  These folks have been around for awhile.  I mean they’ve helped what...

Mary:  Um-hum.

Brian Therrien:  ...close to...they have 2,500 brands, they’ve helped over, what was it, 5,000 people, was that the right number?  No, 5 million, 5 million people.

Mary:  More than that.

Brian Therrien:  Now, Mary, I also saw in their work that they do that they’re connected to different agencies for help, which is kind of a ducktail into the next section that I’m going to speak about, but have you found any agencies that they have referred you to, local agencies?

Mary:  Yeah, they send you off to NORD.  This is how I got my Provigil done.  National Organization of Rare Diseases.  That’s how Provigil worked out.  They make you contact NORD for like that, for for really rare things like Provigil.  And sometimes they don’t have all the drugs, but if you know the company, you can go to the pharmaceutical company, itself, and it will have its own form that you would have to fill out.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.

Mary:  You know, you have to do a little research and if they don’t have the form, then go to the pharmaceutical company and do a little research on their site and they will have a form that will help you pay, you know, for the...pay...get that no cost, free drugs for yourself.

Brian Therrien:  We had another situation, yesterday, actually.  I was contacted by a member who did a similar process, used the Centers for Independent Living, and had...ended up getting his meds paid for by a local liver research organization.  So, which is the next thing that I want to get into and thank you for all of that unless you have anything to add to the partnership program.  We have to come up with a name for it.  We’ll call it what it is, I guess, PPARX, right.  Is there anything else you wanted to share on that before we move on?

Mary:  No.  Just to remember when you’re filing that out you have to fill it out one doctor at a time.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.  Good tip.  Great.  Thank you very much.  Hopefully that will help people save tons-o-money.  Next thing is, when people are looking for treatment options, one of the areas that our members have had lots of success is going to Centers for Independent Living.  And if you’re not looking at my computer and you want to kind of follow along, most of the information that we’re going to cover today is in the members area from the Disability Digest.  Pretty much everything that we cover, the key information, is there.  So, to find that you would go to thedisabilitydigest.com and then look in the top right-hand-corner and there’s a link to the members area.  So, I am in the members area clicking on Center for Independent Living.  It says free treatment and advocacy, but what these centers are is they handle really five core needs for people that are disabled and they’re well-run organizations, typically.  They’re run by people that are disabled for others that are disabled in the community and they’re in every nook and cranny in the US .  And if you go there and there’s contact information that I’ll share with you when I finish this, and you contact your local center for information and Center for Independency and explain your situation.  They will, you know, help you profile your needs and if there’s treatment options in your area, be it clinics, prescriptions like Mary was able to experience, and the other situation with the gentleman that got his prescriptions from another organization, then you can get hooked into these.  So, this is really a super resource.  I think everybody should get tuned in here.  The other thing that they do well is they deal with housing issues, networking issues, they even have advocacy efforts that will, you know, help people with transportation.  So, definitely check them out.  That’s a great resource that we have a lot of luck with.  And at the bottom of the page to find your local Center for Independent Living, you can just scroll down and there’s a video that will walk you through how it works, but it’s also pretty simple.  There’s...says click here to find your local Center for Independent Living, and when you do that, a map of the US comes up and you just simply click on your state.  Let’s take North Dakota .  And if you’re looking at the screen, then all the names and numbers come up, so you pick the one that’s closest to you.  So, those are some of the things.  So, what I would like to do...I’m going to do now, is I’m going to unmute the phone.  I’m going to take a few questions on the prescription part before we move on, if that’s okay with you, Mary, with the rest of the program.  So, hang on one moment.  Okay.  Are there any questions for Mary on the Partnership for Prescription Medicine?

Audience Member:  I have one question.  I’m insured by another company.  Can I still get that? 

Mary:  No.  You have to have no insurance.  Yeah.

Audience Member:  Excuse me?

Mary:  You got to be not insured.

Audience Member:  Not insured for that.

Mary:  Yeah.  That’s for people who don’t have insurance.

Audience Member:  Okay.  Probably spend more than they do.

Brian Therrien:  Okay.  Any other questions?

Audience Member:  Brian?

Brian Therrien:  Yes?

Audience Member:  Do you...I know that...I deal with Wal*Mart a lot and they have a $4.00 generic program, which it might save money for people and that’s a lot of time either insured or uninsured.

Brian Therrien:  Good tip.

Audience Member:  Also get the $4.00.

Brian Therrien:  So, Wal*Mart.  Alright.

Audience Member:  General stores...

Brian Therrien:  Pardon me?

Ted Nichole:  I’m Ted Nichole from Fern Creek.

Brian Therrien:  Hey Ted.

Ted Nichole:  We use that Wal*Mart $4.00 generic quite a bit and it’s...it’s a real good program.  I’m in the process of looking through medical stuff and I’m insured, so I I think I have found some areas that you can get reduced drugs on, but I’m not totally sure about the insured business or not.

Brian Therrien:  Um-hum.

Mary:  The thing is that those $4.00 programs doesn’t cover all drugs.

Ted Nichole:  No.  They don’t cover all drugs.

Brian Therrien:  Yeah.

Mary:  Yeah.  See, that’s the thing.  My drugs were not covered.

Ted Nichole:  Yes, ma’am.

Brian Therrien:  Yeah.  You know, one...one thing that’s always helpful, for those of you that are not aware, is we have a community that is very active, Mary’s involved in it, and it’s like MySpace or facebook...It’s like MySpace or facebook, but it’s specific for our members and if you’re looking at the screen now, you can go in and join.  There are different discussion groups that are in there.  Like Mary runs the fibromyalgia group.  So, my point is this, is if you have different tips or are looking to learn more about this, you know, the mailing list delivers information, but there’s a wealth of knowledge to learn from each other like are on these calls and if you go into the community and they’ve got something to give and you’re looking to get something back, that’s a great place to do it.  It’s easy to use.  It’s free.  You can sign up.  And it’s not all business in there.  There’s a lot of fun stuff that goes on, too.  So, be sure to check that out as a resource. 

 {end of the interview}