Prescription drugs are an important tool that doctors use to help their patients heal and achieve optimal health.  However prescription drugs can also be very expensive, particularly for people with long-term chronic conditions or illnesses.  Depending on your insurance plan you may have prescription drug coverage which will pay for all or a portion of your prescription drug costs.  If you or a loved one does not have insurance obtaining needed drugs can be prohibitively expensive.  As a partial solution there are public (government-based) and private (corporate-based) organizations that offer free, discounted or subsidized prescription programs.