sass—butt:

Hey Tumblr, if you’re poor, under-or-unemployed, and/or uninsured, you can probably get free drugs directly from the manufacturers. 

Yeah, free. Like seriously all you pay for is maybe the doctor/nurse visit you’ll probably need to go to for the prescription. 

The basics, because every program is different:

You need:

• to fill out a buttload of paperwork, which is a pain in the buns, but FREE MEDS
• a prescription for the medication(s) you’re trying to obtain, which means you’ll need to find a doctor or nurse practitioner (someone who can legally write scripts), whom you can also probably see for free at a community clinic if you’re willing to chill on a waiting list for three months.
• proof of residence, official ID, utility bill, something like that
• probably your most recent W-2 or paystub, to prove you need assistance. if you make a “decent” amount but maybe have tremendous bills or something, some companies will make exceptions if you take the time to write a letter explaining the situation, and maybe include a pile of copies of your bills. if you’ve been unemployed for a while or have never worked, they’ll probably ask you to explain how you get by, or to provide proof that you’re getting food stamps or something of the sort. 
• that’s pretty much it.
• like i said, every company is different, so make sure you read every line of the requirements, because it’s a pain in the arse to send all your shit in and find out that whoops you forgot to draw a unicorn on the lower left-hand corner of your 2011 W-2 form or some ridic shit

Links to patient assistance programs; feel free to add your own:

Lilly (Byetta, Cymbalta, Glucagon, Humalog, Humulin, Livalo, Prozac, Quinidine, ReoPro, Strattera, Xigris, Sybyax, Zyprexa) : http://www.lillytruassist.com/pages/FindProgram.aspx

Sanofi-Aventis (Apidra, Lantus, Clolar, Jevtana, Elitek, Leukine, Eloxatin, Mozobil, Eligard, Lovenox, Rilutek, Multaq, Priftin) : https://patientassistanceprogram.sanofi-aventis.us/index.html

abbott (ANDROGEL, PROMETRIUM, Advicor, Creon, Depakote, Gengraf, Humira, Kaletra, Synthroid, Tarka, and several more) : http://www.abbottpatientassistancefoundation.org/pharmaceutical_products.asp

Pfizer (lots and lots of drugs; I have gotten free Zoloft from them in the past) : http://www.pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/pages/Application/Application.aspx

Basically, pretty much every major pharmaceutical company has some sort of free/discount drug program; you just have to dig around to find it because nobody tells us about them unless they’re those rare sorts of doctors who actually advocate for their patients.

Service-y! Healthcare reform doesn’t happen at lightning speed, sadly, so I’m sure this is relevant to lots of my readers.