Help Paying for Cancer Medicines

Almost every mistake here comes from applying to the wrong sort of program. What you can use depends on what insurance you have.

• No insurance at all — manufacturer patient assistance programs, which can supply the drug free.
• Commercial or employer insurance — manufacturer copay cards, which pay down your share at the pharmacy.
• Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE or VA — copay cards are generally not available to you. Independent charitable foundations are the route instead, plus Medicare Extra Help.

Say your insurance type in the first sentence of every call. It saves an hour.

Nearly every company that makes a cancer drug runs a patient assistance program that provides the medicine at no or reduced cost to people who meet income and insurance rules, and a separate copay card for people with commercial insurance.

Find the one for your specific drug through the Medicine Assistance Tool at medicineassistancetool.org, or through two free directories the National Cancer Institute points to: NeedyMeds, which lists programs that help pay for medicines and supplies, and RxAssist, a directory of drug company assistance programs. Your oncology pharmacist can usually name the program for your drug from memory.

Copay cards have a maximum annual benefit, and some insurers no longer count that money toward your deductible. Ask your plan whether copay assistance counts toward your out-of-pocket maximum before you rely on it.

These are independent charities. They run disease-specific funds that open and close as money comes in, and most people on Medicare use them.

TotalAssist. Patient Advocate Foundation and PAN Foundation merged, and launched TotalAssist on 1 July 2026 as a single program covering nearly 150 serious and chronic conditions. Grants can go toward medication copays, coinsurance and deductibles, health insurance premiums, office visit charges on the day of treatment, and treatment administration charges. Call 866-512-3861, Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET; press 2 for Spanish. Patient Advocate Foundation's main line for case management is (800) 532-5274.

HealthWell Foundation. Covers coinsurance, copays, deductibles, health insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. To qualify you must have some form of health insurance, have a disease with an open fund, have income within 500% of the federal poverty level, and be treated in the US or a US territory. Call (800) 675-8416, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation. Covers copayment, coinsurance and deductibles for chemotherapy or targeted treatment medications only — not scans, radiation or lab work. You must be insured, and a US citizen or legal resident; adjusted gross income up to five times the federal poverty level may qualify. Call 866-55-COPAY (866-552-6729), Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Friday until 5 p.m. CancerCare's general line is 800-813-HOPE (4673).

Blood Cancer United, formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, runs a Co-Pay Assistance Program covering insurance premiums and treatment-related copays and coinsurance for prescription drugs, labs, scans and tests. Information Specialists: (800) 955-4572; the Patient Financial Assistance team: (877) 557-2672.

Funds close. When one does, ask to be added to its notification list and apply the moment it reopens. Reapply every January, because grants run by calendar year.

Extra Help, the Part D Low-Income Subsidy, is the single biggest lever. Medicare.gov's 2026 figures: qualify with income up to $23,940 for an individual or $32,460 for a married couple, and resources up to $18,090 or $36,100. With it you pay a $0 premium, a $0 deductible, no more than $5.10 for a generic and $12.65 for a brand-name drug, and $0 once your total drug costs reach $2,100.

Apply free through Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), weekdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.

• Rx Outreach, a nonprofit mail-order pharmacy, 1-888-796-1234.
• Discount card prices such as GoodRx, which sometimes beat your copay on generics. You cannot combine a discount card with insurance on the same fill, so ask the pharmacist to price both ways.
• Your hospital's own assistance. Many cancer centers have charity care policies and 340B pricing. Ask the financial counselor for the written policy, not a verbal answer.
• The Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition database at cancerfac.org, searchable by diagnosis, ZIP code and type of help.
• NCI's Cancer Information Service, 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

Do not skip or stretch doses to save money without telling your oncology team — say the words "I cannot afford this" and let them find a covered alternative. And do not pay a large surprise pharmacy bill before someone has checked whether a foundation, a manufacturer program or an appeal applies.

This page is educational and is not financial, insurance or benefits advice. Program rules change; confirm current terms with each organization before you rely on them.

• National Cancer Institute — Managing Cancer Costs and Medical Information
• Medicare — Help with drug costs (Extra Help / Part D Low-Income Subsidy)
• Social Security Administration — Medicare Part D Extra Help
• HealthWell Foundation — Eligibility and disease funds
• CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation
• Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition — Searchable resource database