United Way of Greater Augusta and the FamilyWize Community Service Partnership have teamed up to make prescriptions more affordable for those without insurance or even those with insurance that doesn’t cover the medicine.
FamilyWize cards have provided needed relief with great success, saving thousands of people in our community more than $2,097,284 on the cost of their medicine. In 2014 alone, local individuals saved $308,357 on their medications, however, there are still many more people whose health is endangered because their prescriptions are too expensive and they are not getting the medicines they need.
Even people with insurance through their employer or through the Affordable Care Act may find that cost keeps them from taking medicine as prescribed, particularly those with High Deductible Plans. According to an Employee Benefits Research Institute study 31% of people who had a deductible of at least $1,000 skipped a dose or didn’t fill a prescription because of cost.
“Starting at the beginning of the new year, when all the new insurance plans begin, we’d like to see every person in our community who has a high deductible be able to buy the medicine they need to stay healthy,” said Cynthia Pritchard, CEO of the United Way of Greater Augusta. “We encourage everyone to not only get a FamilyWize card, but to also see what other services we can refer them to – like food banks and pantries, utility and housing assistance, and more. We know there are still hard times for many people and we’re here to help.”
United Way of Greater Augusta is one of 1,000 local United Ways that have joined the FamilyWize Community Service Partnership over the last 8 years. FamilyWize was recently named a Preferred Partner by United Way Worldwide to provide opportunities for increased awareness and collaborations nationwide. Nationally, 7.2 million people have received assistance using the card and have collectively saved over $772,787,000.
“Locally or nationwide, what’s most important is that most of the time we save people about $20 per prescription when they use this card,” said Pritchard. “That’s money in their pocket when they need it most to pay bills and other necessities.”
Average savings are almost 40% and can be as high as 75%. FamilyWize cards can be used at most pharmacies including all chain pharmacies and groceries nationwide.
Contact United Way of Greater Augusta for information on how to get a card, visit www.unitedwayga.org/familywize to download a card or text “family” to 700700 to get a text version of the card.
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