HIGH SPRINGS — A giant, orange, computer-filled, national touring bus made High Springs one... Eye-catching organge bus m

The bus, called the "Help is Here Express," is one of two buses touring across the nation to educate people about programs that offer medicines at a discounted cost for qualified patients.

Funded by the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), the bus brings help directly to people by offering computers and phones for them to access an application for assistance programs.

"(The application) is a single point of access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs that provide free or nearly free medicines to qualified patients," said Jeff Trewhitt, spokesperson for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "Millions of people get help from these programs every year."

And the PPA has been helping even more people access the programs. Since April, they have matched more than 1.5 million people nationwide to patient assistance programs, 107,000 in Florida alone.

In addition to the bus, the PPA also offers a Website and a toll-free telephone number for those who want to apply to enroll in such programs and gain access to more than 2,500 discounted prescription medicines.

Although the qualifications for each program differ, many are for those who don't have prescription drug coverage and earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning less than $19,000 for an individual or less than $31,000 for a family of three.

Applying for such programs through the PPA makes the process much easier on the patient, Trewhitt said. Instead of filling out multiple applications for each program, applicants only need to fill out one to be considered for more than 475 programs.

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