ACCESS
At Merck, we believe that it's not enough to discover and develop new medicines and vaccines. We need to help get them to the people who need them.
For more than 50 years, our Merck Patient Assistance Program has provided Merck medicines free of charge to millions of Americans who, without our assistance, could not otherwise afford them. Medicines for chronic conditions that affect millions – like diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.
In 2008, approximately 1.5 million prescriptions were filled under the Merck Patient Assistance Program. More recently, with the uninsured population in the U.S. at 47 million and growing, we promised ourselves – on behalf of our patients, partners and investors – that we would help even more people get access to the medicines they need.
It’s a promise we’ve delivered by expanding the Merck Patient Assistance Program, raising the amount of income that potential patients can earn and still qualify to receive their medicines for free. We are also excited about the possibility of potentially creating a New Merck Patient Assistance Program that combines the Merck Patient Assistance Program, the Schering-Plough Patient Assistance Program and Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals Patient Assistance Program into one larger umbrella program for Merck – through which we plan to provide access to more medicines through one simplified enrollment process.
"We have been receiving the medications we applied to you for under your patient assistance program. We want to thank you very much for your valuable assistance to us and to others who are also unable to purchase needed prescription medications."
We’ve recently expanded our Patient Assistance Program to help more people. Find out if you – or someone you know – may qualify.
Patients in the United States now may be eligible for the Merck Patient Assistance program if your household income is at or below 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) – even if your financial situation is temporary, due to unemployment or other reasons. This means that you may now qualify if you have a household income of:
- $43,320 or less for individuals
- $58,280 or less for couples
- $88,200 or less for a family of four
Increasing eligibility is just one example of how we’ve enhanced the program to make it easier for more Americans to access our medicines and vaccines. We also improved the process by changing the enrollment form to one, simplified page and providing the option of shipping the medicine directly to the patient’s home.
