Free pharmacy sees new need: Working people who can't afford prescription medication

NEWPORT, Ky. – Kellee Yelton was a receptionist at a medical office in Norwood and had health insurance in January 2020 when she took short-term disability to get surgery on her foot.

"Then the pandemic hit," she says.

Four months into it Yelton of Northern Kentucky lost her job. She had to move in with her sister. And she could no longer afford essential prescription medications for diabetes and hypertension.

"I tried to get through to unemployment and I just couldn't," said Yelton, now a Southgate resident. "I never was able."

A doctor told her about Faith Community Pharmacy, a nonprofit that for 20 years has provided free prescription medications to Northern Kentucky residents who cannot afford them.

Yelton's situation is typical among the newest clients of Faith Community Pharmacy: They are less often retirees. They are people who lost jobs during the pandemic. Sometimes, they're people who got back to work but have no insurance or a premium so high that they can't afford prescription medications. They are people who are now making choices between food and gas, medical costs and utilities, because they cannot keep up with inflation.

This is the new face of need for free prescription medication, said Aaron Broomall, Faith Community Pharmacy's executive director.

The jump in these clients, coupled with the more traditional clients – seniors living on Social Security checks – is why the service moved this month from a Florence office to a new location: Watertower Square at 601 Washington Ave. in Newport.

Move to Newport brings free pharmacy closer to new clients

The workers were there on a Wednesday morning, moving shelving into a space that is more than three times the size of the operation's previous pharmacy, in Florence. They moved in printers and chairs and counters and more preparing for the June 6 opening.

The location couldn't be better for the service, Broomall said. Watertower Square is hub of services. The visibility will bring Faith Community Pharmacy even more clients, Broomall predicted. The new location is on a bus line – helpful to people with limited transportation options or gas money, and it's in the urban core of Northern Kentucky, where many of the pharmacy's clients live.

To bring the service to more people, the organization plans to increase outreach at churches, schools, clinics and emergency and urgent care departments. For rural clients, another growing group of enrollees, Broomall said, "We'll deliver their prescriptions."

Medication costs hurt Americans during pandemic

What this free pharmacy is seeing is a slice of what's happened in America since the pandemic started.

A GoodRx survey released in March 2021 shows that one in three Americans saw their out-of-pocket medication costs go up in 2020. Nearly 40% reported difficulty affording their prescription medications, and more than 20% said they struggled to pay for basic needs, such as food and shelter, as a result.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for people to afford healthcare in general by draining their savings and widening the pool of uninsured patients who need regular medication," GoodRx reported.

The trend at Faith pharmacy didn't start with the pandemic but ballooned with it. Its client base has jumped 60% since 2017, with 30% of that enrollment coming in 2020. The surge has slowed, said Broomall, but enrollment continues to grow.

'It's really hard to have a chronic illness'

Yelton is among those who've remained enrolled at the pharmacy even after getting hired eight months ago, again as a receptionist. She said her high-deductible insurance makes it impossible for her to afford her medications at this time.

Faith Community Pharmacy will provide 90 days of medication to anyone in a 14-county Northern Kentucky area who is seeking the help. It provides medications on an ongoing basis for those earning 300% of the poverty level and below. They're mainly for chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and asthma that disproportionately affect low-income individuals. Mental health medications are also among prescriptions given free.

Costs of the pharmacy are covered with funding from Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, foundations including the Spaulding Foundation, grants and monetary and in-kind donations. Most of the medications come from nonprofit Americares.

On a broader scale, the costs pay off in better health, Broomall said.

That's illustrated by Faith Community Pharmacy's research. The organization tracks emergency department visits and hospitalizations of its clients from the year before they are enrolled to the first year of enrollment. The result? Clients' ER visits drop by at least half and hospitalizations by 70% based on the entire patient population.

“What we do is critical," Broomall said. “It really allows people to live their lives. What we do allows them to stay at work, provide for their family, be healthy for their kids.”

"It’s hard to be poor," he said. "It's hard to have a low income, and it’s really hard to have a chronic illness."

The organization's three pharmacists, pharmacy technician, interns from the University of Cincinnati School of Pharmacy and volunteers are cognizant of the struggles their clients face, Broomall said. That's partly why Faith Community Pharmacy is a "high-touch" service, he said: a place where clients get a lot of facetime with the workers.

Yelton wasn't used to getting outside assistance before she encountered Faith Community Pharmacy, but she's felt comfortable with the staff from the start.

"They're so nice," she said. "There's times that, you know, I work, and I am single, and sometimes I can't get off work to get my prescriptions. They'll bring them to me."

"Thank God for programs that do this for people," Yelton said. "The way the economy is right now … you just can't live."

Faith Community Pharmacy is open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Free prescription drug service sees jump in clients with jobs