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Minute #5
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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. 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 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}
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