Category: Patient Assistance

All About Resources for Hearing Loss and Deafness

In today’s blog post we highlight a number of national and state programs that assist those who are deaf or suffering from hearing loss. Hearing loss affects many Americans, with approximately 3 out of every 1,000 children born deaf, along with 17% of the nation reporting some degree of hearing loss. Symptoms of hearing loss include muffled speech and sounds, difficulty understanding words in a group of people, need to turn up the volume of the radio or TV, and social issues such as withdrawal or avoidance of social gatherings. What Causes Hearing Loss? There are two major types of […]

Paying to Apply to PAPs

There are many companies that, for a fee, offer to help people apply to pharmaceutical patient assistance programs (PAPs). Some even show up when you do a Google search for “NeedyMeds” or words spelled close to “NeedyMeds.” While some make reasonable claims, others seem to say if you pay them a fee they can get you any medicine for free. And some of the fees can pile up pretty quickly. No PAP charges you to apply. Occasionally you’ll find one that has a copayment, but you should never pay upfront. How complicated is it to apply to a PAP? The […]

All About PARE – Patient Assistance Resource Education

All About PARE In last week’s blog post we looked at what resources we have available for Patient Advocates. This week we would like to go a step further and introduce our latest resource for advocates – Patient Assistance Resource Education (PARE). The purpose of PARE is to educate healthcare professionals on how to best utilize NeedyMeds to serve their patients. Advocates and medical office staff complete a web-based and self-paced course that goes in-depth into all of our databases and resources. After completing PARE, advocates will be able to navigate the often confusing and complex world of patient assistance. […]

Resources for Advocates

Here at NeedyMeds our focus has always been to help patients who can’t afford their medications and healthcare costs with information on patient assistance programs, free-clinics, co-pay assistance and more. Beyond working directly with patients in need, we also have a variety of resources available to help patient advocates. The patient advocate community plays an essential role in our mission to help people who cannot afford the costs of healthcare. Many patients do not have access to a computer or the Internet, and rely on patient advocates to help them. In this blog post, we are going to highlight some […]

Finding Help With Major Depression

Major depression, also commonly referred to as clinical depression, is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. Major depression, including major depressive disorder, manic depression, and dysthymia, affect more than 19 million Americans a year. Almost two-thirds of those with depression are women. The symptoms of clinical depression vary, but common symptoms include persistent sad or anxious mood, sleeping issues, reduced appetite, irritability, fatigue, and thoughts of suicide among others. From Mental Health America, “Depression causes people to lose pleasure from daily life, can complicate other medical conditions, and can even be serious enough to lead […]

About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.