Prescription and medication costs
If your medicines cost more than you can pay, there are four separate places to look: Extra Help from Social Security, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan that spreads your costs over the year, your state's own drug assistance program, and the drug maker's own patient program. Most people who qualify for Extra Help have never applied for it. Each one is free to apply for.
Written and checked by Jason Burns, Editorial Steward · Checked August 25, 2026
Start with Extra Help
Extra Help is the federal program that lowers what you pay for Medicare Part D prescription drugs. Part D is the part of Medicare that pays for pills and other medicines you pick up at a pharmacy. Extra Help pays your drug plan premium, wipes out the deductible, and caps what you pay at the pharmacy counter. Social Security decides who gets it, the application is free, and you can apply at any time of year.
If Extra Help says no, you have three more doors
The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan does not lower your total bill, but it stops the big January bill by spreading your out-of-pocket drug costs into level monthly payments across the calendar year. A State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program, if your state runs one, pays part of the cost after Medicare. Drug manufacturers also run patient assistance programs for their own products, and a pharmacist or a SHIP counselor can help you find the right form.
Free help filling out the forms
Every state has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program, usually called SHIP. SHIP counselors are trained, they do not sell anything, and they will sit with you and compare drug plans using your actual medication list. That single hour is often worth several hundred dollars a year.
What we will never tell you
We will never tell you that you are approved or denied. Only the agency can decide that. What we can tell you is whether a program is worth applying for, and exactly where the official application lives.
Questions people ask
What is Extra Help and how much can it save me?
Extra Help is a federal Social Security program that lowers what people with Medicare pay for prescription drugs, and Social Security estimates it is worth about $6,000 a year to the average person who gets it, because it covers the Part D drug plan premium and deductible and caps what you pay at the pharmacy counter.
What is the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan?
The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is a free option that lets anyone with a Medicare drug plan spread their out-of-pocket prescription costs into level monthly payments across the calendar year instead of paying a large amount at the pharmacy counter, though it does not lower the total you owe.
Can I get help paying for my prescriptions if I make too much for Extra Help?
Yes — if your income is above the Extra Help limit you can still lower drug costs through your state's own pharmaceutical assistance program, the drug manufacturer's patient assistance program, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, and by having a counselor re-shop your drug plan for the medicines you actually take.
What is a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program?
A State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program, usually shortened to SPAP, is a program run by an individual state that pays part of what older or disabled residents owe for prescription drugs after Medicare pays, and roughly a dozen states operate one with income limits that are often well above the federal Extra Help limits.
I can't afford my medicine — what can I do?
Do not skip doses or cut pills in half — call your pharmacist today and ask three questions: is there a cheaper generic, can you get an emergency supply, and what is the cash price with a discount card, then apply for Extra Help, which caps what most people pay for covered drugs.
How do seniors get help paying for prescriptions?
Help with prescriptions comes in a ladder: Extra Help from Social Security first, then your state's pharmaceutical assistance program, then the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan to spread costs monthly, and finally drug company and foundation programs for a single expensive medicine.
Programs covered in this guide
- Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Costs (Low-Income Subsidy)Cuts your prescription costs to a few dollars a drug and removes your Part D premium and deductible.
- Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (M3P)Spreads what you owe for prescriptions across the year in equal monthly payments, with no interest and no fee.
- Pennsylvania PACE and PACENET Prescription AssistancePennsylvania's state prescription program for residents 65 and older. Not the same thing as federal PACE.
- SHIP: Free, Unbiased Medicare CounselingA trained local counselor who compares your Medicare options with you and sells nothing.
- State Pharmaceutical Assistance ProgramsAbout a dozen states run their own prescription help on top of Medicare Part D.
Sources
- Extra Help with Medicare prescription drug costs · Social Security Administration
- Medicare Prescription Payment Plan · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Every program on this site is free to apply for. Anyone who asks you to pay to apply, or to “unlock” a government benefit, is a scam — hang up and call Senior Medicare Patrol or 211.
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Checked August 25, 2026. Licensed under the Citation License 1.0. © 2026 Adolicious LLC.