SPECIAL REPORT: Getting your prescriptions cheaper

All month we've been talking to the experts to help you become a better advocate for your health care.

Now, Nine On Your Side focuses on those expensive prescription drugs. If you don't have insurance the prices can be overwhelming.

But what if you could get your prescriptions cheaper, or better yet, for free?

Nine On Your Side's Parul Joshi shows us the ways you can get the medicines you need for a fraction of the cost.

"They're trying get food on the table, they're trying to feed their children, you know sometimes they have to give up what they need to stay healthy," says Tracy Correa.

She wants patients to realize, these days, you don't have to sacrifice health to save money, "We have patients before they leave the hospital they'll say I can't afford my discharge medications or I don't have insurance to pay for my medicines. And we get them linked up to community resources that will help them."

As an In-Patient Social Work Case Manager at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, she helps patients transition from life at the hospital to life at home, "A lot of time they're coming in on very expensive medicines so what I do as an In-Patient Case Manager I talk with the physicians to see if they can look over their medicines before they're discharged to see if there are any generic medicines because there are a lot of pharmacy chains that have generic programs. So we try to get them switched over to comparable medications so that will alleviate some of their frustrations."

Another resource Correa turns to: the web- finding the help her patients are looking for online.

"The one that I'm most familiar with that I've used consistently is needymeds.com. It's the most reliable, most up to date,” says Correa.

Patients apply and if they're eligibile for the program, Correa says, oftentimes they get their prescriptions for free, "There seems to be more medication assistance programs out there now."

Some other places correa recommends include your local Department of Social Services office, agencies like the Council on Aging, or churches.

Bottom line, Correa says, never let limited funds compromise your health, "Nobody knows if you're in need or if you need help with anything unless you verbalize it. So I encourage the patients or any community citizen to verbalize what they need because there are people out there to help."

Correa says you can also talk with your primary care physician about your options for affordable prescription drugs.

She also recommends for Medicare participants to enroll in the Medicare part D benefit for its prescription coverage. There are several options you can enroll in.

Check with your pharmacist to see which plan would be the better fit for you.

We have all those resources for you to use. Just use the links below for help:

Link to Council on Aging Branches across the state: http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/aging/services/hdm.htm

Link to Department of Social Services across the state: http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/dss/local/

Link to prescription assistance Web site: http://www.needymeds.org/

Link to Medicare prescription drug coverage: http://www.medicare.gov/pdphome.asp