HAPS Senior Prescription Copay Assistance Project

HAPS Senior Prescription Copay Assistance Project

Funding Goal: $5,000 Annually

Project Overview

Health and Prescription Services (HAPS) proposes the Senior Prescription Copay Assistance Project, a targeted program designed to help low-income adults age 65 and older afford modest prescription medication copays of less than $50.

HAPS regularly encounters seniors living on limited or fixed incomes who must carefully stretch every dollar across housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, medical expenses, and other necessities. While Medicare and other insurance coverage may pay a significant portion of a prescription's cost, even a relatively small copay can create a serious financial hardship.

Currently, HAPS does not have dedicated funding to assist insured clients with prescription copays. With an initial investment of $5,000, HAPS could establish this program and begin helping eligible seniors avoid having to choose between purchasing needed medication and meeting another basic need.

Why a $20, $30, or $50 Copay Matters

To many people, a prescription copay of less than $50 may not seem significant. For a senior living from one Social Security check to the next, however, that amount can make a tremendous difference.

Forty dollars can be several days of groceries. Fifty dollars can help keep the electricity on, put gas in the car, or purchase household necessities. For someone whose budget has no room for unexpected expenses, paying a prescription copay can mean having enough food for the entire month—or going hungry during the final week.

No senior should have to decide, "Do I buy my medicine, or do I buy groceries?"

Yet these are precisely the difficult choices that people with limited incomes can face.

Skipping medication can also create consequences far beyond the original copay. A senior may ration medication, delay filling a prescription, or stop taking it altogether. A manageable health condition can then become a more serious problem requiring additional medical care.

A relatively small intervention at the right time may help prevent a much larger crisis.

How the Program Would Work

HAPS would use dedicated donations to assist qualifying adults age 65 and older who demonstrate financial need with prescription copays of less than $50.

Assistance would be provided according to established program guidelines and available funding. HAPS would verify the prescription and cost and, whenever possible, make payment directly to the pharmacy rather than providing cash to the client.

The program would focus specifically on modest copays, allowing HAPS to stretch donor dollars and help as many seniors as possible.

With $5,000 in annual funding, the potential reach is significant. At an average assistance amount of:

$25 per prescription — up to 200 prescription copays
$35 per prescription — approximately 142 prescription copays
$50 per prescription — up to 100 prescription copays

The actual number of seniors served would depend on individual prescription costs and the frequency of assistance.

A Small Investment With a Human Impact

This project is intentionally simple.

We are not asking donors to fund an expensive new facility or complicated program. We are asking the community to help HAPS create a $5,000 annual safety net for older adults who may be just one prescription copay away from having to sacrifice another necessity.

A $25 donation could potentially pay a senior's prescription copay.

A $50 donation could potentially prevent someone from having to choose between medication and groceries.

A $500 donation could provide ten $50 copays.

And $5,000 could fund the program for an entire year.

For a donor, $50 may represent dinner out or a routine purchase. For a senior surviving on a fixed income, that same $50 can represent medication, food, transportation, or the ability to make it through the month without another financial crisis.

Why HAPS?

For more than 65 years, Health and Prescription Services has worked to remove barriers that prevent people in our community from achieving better health and greater stability. HAPS understands that health does not exist separately from food, housing, transportation, income, and other basic needs.

The Senior Prescription Copay Assistance Project is a natural extension of that mission.

We know how to help. We have the community relationships and experience to administer the assistance responsibly.

What we currently lack is the dedicated funding.

With $5,000 in community support, HAPS can change that.

Our Goal

Our goal is straightforward:

Raise $5,000 to launch the Senior Prescription Copay Assistance Project and secure $5,000 in dedicated funding each year thereafter.

This is a modest program with the potential for meaningful impact—one senior, one prescription, and one less impossible decision at a time.

Because no senior should have to choose between the medicine they need and the food they need to survive.

Health and Prescription Services (HAPS)
Empowerment through better health.