How to Get Help to Pay for Lamictal When You Have No Insurance

Lamotrigine (brand name Lamictal) is a prescription medication used for two key purposes. Adults age 18 and over with Bipolar I disorder use it to stabilize their mood swings, and doctors give it in combination with other medications to children with certain seizure problems (partial seizures, primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures, generalized seizures of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome). Lamotrigine is a maintenance drug, and whether your problem is seizures or the cycle of mania and depression that characterizes bipolar disorder, you don't want to be without your medication. This is easy enough when you have good health insurance that covers mental health medications, but what if you lose your insurance?

Things You'll Need

• Telephone
• Computer with Internet access
• Printer with paper and ink
• Notebook and pen

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Instructions

• 1

  Begin by visiting the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) at www.pparx.org or calling 888-4PPA-NOW (888-477-2669). The PPA offers a number of programs, one of which is sure to be right for you. You start by selecting your medications from a database. Then you answer a few questions about the patient's age, gender, residence, Medicare eligibility and other factors that help the PPA determine the programs for which you qualify. The database generates a list of programs. For some of them, you can download and print out the application forms from the PPA Website. Also, from this point you can fill out the "application wizard," which allows you to simultaneously apply for multiple programs with one form.

• 2

  Another online resource is Mental Health America at www.mentalhealthamerica.net. Along with a host of other mental health services, including a crisis hotline (800-273-TALK), they offer links to a number of other prescription assistance resources.

• 3

  GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Lamictal, offers its Bridges to Access program to eligible low-income patients who have no prescription drug coverage and are not eligible for any other coverage, such as Medicaid or Medicare. If you can wait for your medicine, you can apply through the Website at www.BridgesToAccess.com. If you have a patient advocate to initiate the process, they can call 866-728-4368 to get you your medicine right away.

• 4

  If you don't have Internet access, look in the blue pages of your area telephone book for your county or state department of health and human services. That office should be able to put you in touch with assistance programs closer to home. Your area may also have a "211" telephone referral program for the same purpose.

• 5

  Keep notes of every Website you visit, call you make and person you talk to, so you don't double your efforts. Also, keep copies of every application you send and the written response you get. All this will help you to keep track of your medicines, your coverage and what to do when you need help.