Social Security approved my sister for help with her Part D prescriptions!

[Samurai_Writer]

As some of you know, my sister has severe schitzophrenia and is an uncontrolled diabetic. She's been on SSDI for 20 years. Before Part D went into effect, most of her drugs were paid for by the pharma companies through their charity plans. However, all the pharma companies are getting rid of these plans with the advent of Part D.

My sister gets $1000 a month in Social Security. The total cost of her drugs is $1300 per month. If she couldn't get help paying for them, when she reached the 'gap', she would have to pay the entire $1300 for several months before reaching the 'catastrophic' category. Her drug costs (out of her own pocket) would have been over $6000 per year under Part D -- 1/2 of her SSDI for the year.

Social Security has a program where they will pay the deductible AND pay for the entire costs of the meds during the 'gap' period. I applied for her a couple of weeks ago, and just found out that she was APPROVED. It's such a relief to know she will be able to get her meds.

If anyone is interested in looking into this program, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp/ . There are some restrictions, of course. You need to have a limited income and be on social security or SSDI.