One of the big issues in medication assistance programs is whether to charge patients.  And if you do charge, what’s a reasonable fee? 

Here are what we’ve heard said:
--I can't imagine that fees in the $2-$5 per application range could ever hope but recoup a small percentage of the cost of a program. I know that would be the case for us.  For our program to be totally self-supporting through fees they would have to be high enough that it would discourage the people we were trying to help.  We use the fact that we are doing this at no cost to the patients as a selling point in our fundraising which includes foundation grants, individual donations and fundraising events.
 
--I work for a non-profit health organization that provides prescription assistance for anyone in the community that needs help with the paperwork.  We also advocate with the doctor's office to get them to sign the papers and supply the needed scripts. We do not charge at this time, but are considering a sliding scale fee of $2-5 per person every 90 days. This fee would help to cover administrative costs such as postage, envelopes, faxing, and telephone. We would not charge any person at or below poverty level. We are also looking into charging a fee to a physician's office that refers more than a certain amount of patients.  We are not trying to exploit poor people, but basically nothing is free in life.  Maybe it could be seen as a donation.  I'm wanting to use the money to buy testing strips as Abbott is the only company that now does some strips.