Financial Assistance for Expensive Prescriptions

A dear friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer at the young age of 38. This is not a typo. 38. With the rising cost of healthcare, and employer's forcing employees to pay higher premiums, we learned that this friend had to pay out-of-pocket share of $8,000. Her employer however started a collection fund amond her coworkers to help her offset the cost. But then the prescriptions were the next challenge-- burning through her savings like a wildfire. Weak and lethargic from the radiation, chemo...She didn't have the time or energy to research other sources, ie. Canadian distributors. There's a plethora online but which ones were reputable? Not scams? Not sugar pills?

Who has time? Well there ARE other solutions.
Thanks to The Assistance Fund, a nonprofit organization.

"We're an organization that helps people who've been prescribed some very expensive drugs and have insurance, but can't afford their co-pay or deductible," says Jeffrey Spafford, the nonprofit's chief executive officer.

The organization's Co-pay Funds are focused on 10 serious diseases that require highly specialized medications: breast cancer, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, non-small cell lung cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), psoriasis, and wet age-related macular degeneration.

"Whatever the health plan doesn't cover, we'll pick up on behalf of the patient," Spafford explains.

He says the funds help patients get the treatment they need without giving up the basic essentials of life.

"They're having to make the decision: Do I pay rent this month or do I pay my co-pay for these medicines I need? Or do I buy groceries?" he says.

Drug companies are actively offering their own drug co-pay cards, which can dramatically reduce the patients' share of the cost when buying brand names. Pfizer, for example, offers a discount card that brings the cost of its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor to $4 a month, a savings of up to $50.


There are now 300 different drug company co-pay programs. Consumers fill more than 100 million prescriptions using the cards, according to recent data. There is, however, a caveat: federal law prohibits the use of drug company-issued co-pay cards to patients on Medicare and Medicaid.

People who cannot use drug company-issued co-pay cards do have other options. Retail programs, such as Walgreens' Prescription Savings Club, offer help for patients with or without insurance. Membership in the Walgreens program costs $20 per year for an individual, $35 for a family. Benefits include significant discounts on brand name medications and access to thousands of generic drugs. The generic drugs price out under $12 for a three-month supply. For example, the full cash price for a three-month supply of cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin is $62.07; members pay $12, and save $50.70.

You can learn more about the Assistance Fund at http://theassistancefund.org/ or call 877.245.4412.


You must meet income eligibility requirements to qualify.

Drug company co-pay cards are usually available through a physician or directly on the manufacturer's website.

Applications for the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club are available at retail locations or online at http://www.walgreens.com/.

As always, read all the fine print carefully and call to ask all your questions. Try to communicate via email so you have it in writing unless the drug company offers information online.

Task Rabbit- A Creative Solution for the Unemployed

For the 9% unemployed in this country and a higher percentage underemployed, a creative solution emerges, and does not rely on government or taxpayers' hard-earned income.  Task Rabbit (http://www.taskrabbit.com/) is like an eBay of jobs where the highest bidder is awarded the job. From grocery shopping for that busy professional, hanging picture frames for a disabled person or delivering cupcakes for a loved one's birthday, there is no job too small or demanding.  And the bidders come from all professional backgrounds--construction workers, advertising professionals, even lawyers inbetween jobs.
Some unemployed are making this a full-time job earning as much as $5,000 a month.
Need a job? Supplemental income? Become a rabbit!



For a complete news report by ABC News, click here.

The Gold Rush-- 7 Tips Before you RUSH to Sell Gold

By Alan Farnham, ABC News

Selling gold never has been easier--or riskier. With prices of the precious metal hitting records almost daily ($1,774 the ounce, as of today), and with fear and uncertainty continuing to roil the world's financial markets, gold buyers are eager to pay top dollar for any jewelry, coins or bars you care to part with.

Never have there been so many choices on where and how to sell. In Texas, you can pick up a nice steak for dinner and unload your tiara at the same time: Gold and Silver Buyers, the state's biggest buyer of precious metals, has its stores conveniently located inside or alongside supermarkets.

Since May, eBay has been offering a new feature on its site--a Bullion Center. Spokesperson Johnna Hoff says it was created "to be a one-stop destination" consolidating trade in all types of bullion--gold and silver coins and bars, primarily. The terms and conditions that apply to the sale of a gold bar are no more onerous those that apply to somebody who sells a toaster, a football jersey, or anything else on eBay: Small, casual sellers (non-professionals) pay eBay 9 percent of the price for which their bullion sells, when and if it does. There's no charge for listing. Small sellers, says Hoff, accounted for about one-third of bullion sold last week on eBay.

Whether you sell your gold online, at a local jeweler or through a pawn shop, it's possible, if you're not careful, to wind up with less than its full value. To avoid getting taken, keep these 7 points in mind:

1. Shop Around. No matter how or where you ultimately chose to sell, start locally. Take your gold to a reputable local jeweler or pawn shop and ask them to estimate its value. That way, you'll have at least have a base price in hand before you solicit online bids or other offers. You don't need to worry that you're abusing the good nature of your local businesses, says Dave Crume, past president of the National Pawnbrokers Association and vice president of Wichita, Kansas, pawnbroker A-OK Enterprises. They're in business to give estimates, and they'll give them for free. "Go to three or four stores," he advises, "and compare." To locate your nearest pawnbroker, try the National Pawnbrokers Association website.

2. Beware 'Rogue' Buyers. Crume cautions sellers about doing business with transient gold dealers whom he calls "rogue" buyers (also known as "hotel" or "pop-up" buyers). They blow into town, run ads promising high prices, and set up shop, say, in a hotel ballroom. After vacuuming up a city's worth of jewelry and coins, they disappear, sometimes leaving their victims un- or underpaid. In one test, a gold chain legitimately appraised at $250 was offered to a variety of hotel buyers. None offered more than $130. Before you sell gold--whether to a hotel buyer or to anybody else--check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are complaints against the buyer.

3. Don't Mix Karats. Among the new places to sell your gold are Tupperware-like "gold parties" like those organized by Premier Gold Parties, where a group of friends or neighbors meet to socialize and sell their gold in a home setting. "While gold parties may be a convenient way to make some cash," warns Tucson's Better Business Bureau, "they may not provide you the best deal." Why not? Too many hands in the pot: the company that organized the party gets its cut, and so does the host. At some parties, all jewelry is weighed together, regardless of its karat value, and sellers are paid according to the lowest karat value. Don't accept those terms. Separate your jewelry in advance, by karat, and make sure you are paid more for higher-karat items.

4. Keep an Eye on the Scale. While the accuracy of scales used by jewelers and pawnshops is verified periodically by the department of weights and measures, the same may not be true for scales used by hotel or house party buyers. The Better Business Bureau advises sellers to pay close attention to how their gold is being weighed: Jewelers value gold not by the ordinary ounce (28 grams) but by the Troy (31.1 grams). While some buyers pay according to the gram, others use a system called pennyweight: A pennyweight is equivalent to 1.555 grams. A seller needs to make sure he's not being weighed by pennyweight and paid by the gram, since that would allow the buyer to get more gold for less money.

5. Read the Fine Print. Sell Gold HQ, a website that reviews and compares online gold buyers, advises sellers to compare terms and conditions carefully. "Even when consumers use a legitimate site that buys gold online," says the company in a statement, "it is easy to make a costly mistake by not reading the fine print. For example, some websites offer free shipping to send in gold, but very high shipping rates if the consumer declines the offer and asks for he gold to be returned." Check the buyer's policy, too, on reimbursement if they lose your gold. Many offer only limited liability.

6. Check Credentials. Ask a potential buyer to show you his credentials: If he's legitimate, he'll be licensed by the state to buy gold. He will also be required by law to ask you, the seller, to produce a driver's license, passport or some other form of government-issued identification. That requirement exists to frustrate money laundering and the sale of stolen property. If your buyer does not ask to see your ID, take your business elsewhere.

7. Is It Scrap--or History? Before you sell a gold item to be melted down for scrap, make sure it's not worth more in its present form. Brian Witherell, operations manager of Sacramento, Calif., antiques dealer Witherell's, gives this example: A seller brought him an antique item—a small gold watch fob made in the shape of a railroad spike. "It was a little thing," Witherell recalls, and would not have brought much as scrap. Upon inspection, the fob turned out to have been fashioned out of gold left over from making the famous full-sized golden spike used in 1869 to commemorate completion of the transcontinental railroad. At auction, it sold for $20,000.


THE END

Gas Buddy App

The word "app" has to be accepted into Webster's dictionary by now as it pervades our daily lexicon. Who would have thought that the word Apple and App would be used in the same sentence? If you're new to Earth, "App" is not short for Apple. It's short for "application", a technology application for an iPhone, iPad or Android.  By the way, for the benefit of our mothers, an Android is NOT a human-likeness of mars alien. It's a "smart phone" similar to iPhone for other brands like Blackberry.

Today there is an app for everything. Games including wordsmith, entertainment including 'Ben the Talking Dog" and "Talking Tom Cat", and  useless apps like the "iflush toilet".  We're not kidding.

But today we bring you a useful, functional app. Gas Buddy! No we're not talking about relief from flatulence. With today's skyrocketing gas prices, this buddy will aid you in seeking the best gas prices.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/ helps you find the gas stations with the lowest price anywhere you want to look. You can use it on your computer, download it for an iPhone or Android.

It operates with user-supplied data so you can earn points and win prizes such as gas cards by submitting information on prices in your neighborhood. 

Entering our local city, let's say Miami, Christine found that prices ranged from $3.99 per gallon in Little Havana to $4.29 per gallon in South Beach.

You can compare prices of regular, mid-grade, premier and diesel fuels, calculate how much it will cost for gas to take a particular trip, see charts on historic trends and read tips on how to be a gas-frugal driver. Is there such a word as gasolinista? [I think those fumes are getting to us].

But as soon as one popular app emerges, others get a whiff and spew out ones like Gas Cubby and Cheap Gas!

In a clever strategy to tie staple savings of groceries and gasoline, Winn-Dixie rolled out a program called Fuel Perks that provides gas discounts in exchange for shopping at the store.

Of course another way to save gas is to follow those gas -and-tried practices of avoiding quick starts, running errands in one trip, not exceeding 60 mph on the highway and regular maintenance and tuneups.  Sorry no apps for those yet!

FREE Disney Parks Vacation Planning DVD

What's the saying, something along the lines of "a little planning goes a long way" to saving time, money and less headaches.  Well planning a family vacation, especially with children can be daunting even if the destination is a fantasy-land like Disney World.

There's nothing quite like having your very own Disney memories to hold on to. And whether you're planning your family's first trip...or your 21st...when you order a FREE Disney Parks Vacation Planning DVD, you'll discover a world of ways to make those memories thanks to things like:


•Special features about everything going on at both the Walt Disney World® and Disneyland® Resorts.

•Highlights of accommodations and attractions that fit your family.

•Tips on how easy it is to experience it all with our affordable vacations!

So don't wait another moment. Because there's never been a better time to make memories that will last a lifetime. And this DVD will show you how.
 
CLICK HERE to order your DVD.
Must be 18 years or older and a U.S. or Canadian resident to order. One DVD per household. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery.
 
Para obtener un DVD en español, ordene aquí.
Pour le version en français cliquez ici.

Six Tips to Win Contests & Sweepstakes

" I never win anything" is a refrain often heard during a contest.  But in this segment on Good Morning America, average people, win regular contests and sweepstakes in the coveted four C's: Cars, Computers, Cruises and Cash.

They are a growing group of Sweepstakes Clubs across the country and it's a sure way to strategize, fraternize, and monetize! 

These clubs share techniques, which sweepstakes are worth entering and which ones to avoid.

We, Blog Sisters, have actually dabbled in contests in our younger years when we had free time. Some of the tips the Sweepstakes Club share are actually techniques we tried in the past and they do work!

1.  Check the time period for entry. If it's more than six months, scratch it off your list.You want to increase your odds. Three months or less is better.
2. Study the rules and following the entry requirements. Any deviation will definitely get you disqualified.   If the contest states "only one entry per person or household" don't even think of duplicating entries. 
3. Enter daily if permitted. If the contest allows you to enter daily, DO IT! It's about the odds and you want to increase your chances.
4. Mail in your entry and/or via website, if permitted.  More people will enter via web  and very few send the physical entry. 
5. As the GMA video states, if the contest is a "blind drawing", where the judge picks an entry form without looking, the use crinkled or textured paper. One idea is to take their entry form and fold in accordion, or bunch it in a ball. This increases your chances via a flat piece of paper.
6. Also, if the drawing is not blind, where person selecting the entry can see the envelopes, use colored or decorative envelopes.

Christine once entered a local contest sponsored by the local ABC affiliate in Miami for a kitchen makeover. The drawing was live where the reporter picked from a clear bowl of envelopes. Sure enough she sent her entry in a bright pink envelope and it was selected! But the selection was for the top 5 finalists and from their the TV station selected one of the final five. Unfortunately she didn't win. But she knew her technique would land her in the top five.

One last tip to ensure the contest is legitimate if you're not familiar with the company, you can request the name and city/state of the winner. Often within the rules are instructions on how to obtain the winner's list by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope.  Mark your calendar of when the contest ends, the winner announced, and give them a couple of weeks to send you winner's name. If they don't, you may want to consider notifying a government agency for possible fraudulent means for obtaining consumer information.

Part of the reason companies hold contests is to get your postal or email address to add to their database. A customer or database list is GOLD to any business.  Again read the rules carefully to learn if you will be receiving solicitation emails. Another tip is to create a separate email address just for entering contests if you're going to make this habit!

Some websites dedicated to providing Sweepstakes:
http://www.sweepstakesadvantage.com/
This site provides a summary of limitations, entry expiration, how many entries...

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