Medicare rx discount plan with income under $30,000.00?

[Peregrine Took]

Elderly neighbor (87) living alone on between 26 and 30k per year. She is having a hard time paying for her many prescriptions.

I looked up the Medicare "Extra Help" program as she does have a drug plan D under Medicare but she is slightly over the 25k limit. Drat.

Does anyone know of any other programs for a person like her? I know she has already filed bankruptcy once.
What a shame as she worked hard all her life but apparently never made very much money.

[mopinko]

1. the only thing i can think of is the drug companies.

not sure she qualifies for any of that either, but i think all the big drug companies have some sort of program for low income people.
sorry i can't help.

[DollyM]

2. Get her enrolled in Illinois Circuit Breaker

AARP Super Saver is the best overall plan. Check with your local Area Agency on Aging and see if she can qualify for Circuit Breaker. That will pay for her prescription drug plan and qualify her for Extra Help. I got my mom enrolled in AARP Super Saver and I think it was about 45.00 a month, including her penalty. Then I applied for Circuit Breaker for her, even though she was working full time at age 83!) she had recently been diagnosed with cancer so she filled out what they call a form P (for provisional) and they approved her even though she was over income. Then since her income had dropped considerably, she removed all her money from the bank that would have counted as an asset and handed it out to us kids for safekeeping, and applied for Medicaid and was approved. Now everything is covered from top to bottom and she can rest much easier as her unpaid medical bills were nearing $20 thousand dollars and she was only able to pay about 200 a month on them since she was reduced to just social security for an income. So there are ways, once you get into one program, it is much easier to get into others. But first, call your local Area Agency on Aging and have her apply for Circuit Breaker. I am betting they can get her approved one way or another!

[Peregrine Took]

3. Thanks so much for the great information!

I'm going to let her know about this right away!

[DollyM]

4. Circuit Breaker now throwing people off the program . . .

My Mom was over income last year because she was working but since she has had cancer and is going through chemo, I was able to get her on Medicaid. But she got a letter that she was being taken off Circuit Breaker because she was over income last year. I think they lowered the limit to 21 thousand for a single person. She still qualifies for Medicaid though so it's going to be okay. But the state is trying to save money by cutting programs like these. It's sad because we will have seniors cutting back on other things like heating and cooling (those programs got cut too) in order to pay for their prescriptions or visa versa. Illinois is in deep doo doo . . .
http://www.wjbdradio.com/index.php?f=news_single&id=28259

[mh74562]

5. self-delete