By Amy Niles, Executive Vice President of the PAN Foundation
Every day, Angela Thomas-Davis starts the day with her favorite phrase: good morning. The Texas resident has been living with multiple myeloma for nearly a decade, so she sees each day as a gift.
Paying for her treatments over the last ten years has been a challenge, punctuated by searches for charitable grant support to afford her medical care. As a Medicare beneficiary, Angela is one of the millions of people living in the U.S. with no limit on her out-of-pocket prescription costs. She is still working to pay off thousands of dollars of debt that she incurred to continue her treatment after one grant ran out of funding. Through it all, she still considers every dollar of support and every day a blessing, especially when she is able to video chat with her grandchildren and “grand dog” in London.
Last year, Angela received financial aid through a COVID-19 support fund from the PAN Foundation, which helped her buy food and other essentials while she was quarantining at home.
“I needed every means of financial assistance to pay my bills and household expenses,” she said. “The PAN grant has taken extra added stress off of me.”
Angela’s experience living with a chronic illness on Medicare is unfortunately all too common. PAN’s mission is to help people like Angela, which is why we are proud to offer financial assistance for nearly 70 diagnoses. We also advocate for Congress to reform Medicare to help the millions of people who are priced out of their prescriptions by out-of-pocket costs. Our grassroots campaigns offer patients and supporters a way to directly appeal to their representatives for a cap on out-of-pocket costs.
Advocacy action center
Medicare Part D provides drug coverage to 45 million older adults and people with disabilities. And yet, Medicare beneficiaries are the only insured group in the U.S. without a cap on their annual out-of-pocket costs. In addition, Medicare beneficiaries are burdened with high out-of-pocket costs at the beginning of each year when deductibles reset. Tell your representatives to cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription medications in Medicare Part D in just a few clicks, using PAN’s easy form in our advocacy action center.
Fill in your basic information, including your name, address, and email, and then you’ll have the option to customize a prewritten email. Making your appeal personal is always recommended, but not required. Your email will be sent to your representatives automatically, based on where you live. Become an advocate today.
Find a grant with the PAN Foundation
PAN provides patient assistance grants for nearly 70 diagnoses, including many cancers, and chronic and rare diseases. Our eligibility checker helps you find out whether you qualify for any of these funds in minutes. These grants often cover 100 percent of your out-of-pocket prescription medication costs, including deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance. We cover products that are FDA-approved or listed in official compendia or evidence-based guidelines for each disease. This includes brand and generic medications. Eligible patients can also receive transportation assistance to cover travel expenses to their doctor’s offices and pharmacy.
To apply, patients—or caregivers or providers applying on their behalf—complete a paperless application, get instant approval, and in most cases, can begin using their grant immediately. You can apply online in minutes and track your grant in our online portals. Get started today at panfoundation.org.
Sign up for FundFinder to get real-time funding alerts
Over the years, we recognized that searching the internet for open funds, whether at PAN or another organization, was challenging and time-consuming. It’s why we developed the first patient assistance app, FundFinder, which allows users to sign up for notifications for 200 funds across nine different charitable organizations. Our award-winning app allows users to search for support organizations that may have peer support, educational resources, and other helpful offerings. It’s free to use, anyone can sign up, and with millions of notifications sent out in our first two years, it’s connecting thousands of patients with funding opportunities. Check it out at fundfinder.org.
Get funding alerts through the wait list
We do our best to keep our funds open all year round. If the fund you would like to apply for is closed, we recommend signing up for the wait list. Our wait list system allows prospective grantees to get the first chance to apply for assistance when funding becomes available. Our website also tracks available funding at other charitable organizations, so even if our fund is closed, you’ll be able to quickly see whether help is available somewhere else. Our goal is to help patients in need find help, regardless of the source.
Connect with a patient support organization
People with serious health conditions—and their families and caregivers—need support beyond financial assistance. That’s why we partner with more than 20 leading patient advocacy groups to connect people to communities that can offer support with the complex physical, emotional, and practical realities of life-threatening, chronic, and rare diseases. When you apply for a program at PAN, you can sign up to receive follow-up support from a leading patient support organization that specializes in your disease area. Many patients benefit from their resources, including symptom management, educational resources, and even peer support groups or counseling.
