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A bus tour sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry is rolling into town this morning to assist those having a hard time paying for the medicines they need.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance serves as a clearinghouse on wheels, designed to link the uninsured and financially-struggling with programs that can provide prescriptions free or at lower cost.

The group, on its third swing through Tucson, says it has helped 5 million patients, including some 65,000 in Arizona.

Staffers use computers to quickly sift through 475 patient-assistance programs to find possible matches for patients, who answer about a dozen questions, including age and income. Nearly 200 of the assistance programs are offered by the drug companies themselves, with the remainder funded by private foundations or public assistance grants.

Since the programs all have their own eligibility criteria, patients get preliminary matches, then apply directly to the individual programs. Many, but not all, target patients who don't have drug coverage and earn less than 200 percent of the poverty level, which works out to about $19,000 for a single person and $40,000 for a family of four.

While it certainly can't hurt public relations for the industry, especially in light of growing concerns over the rising cost of health care in the nation, a spokesman for the industry group said the alliance decided to launch the program in 2005 because "this is the right thing to do."

"There are people out there who didn't know where to get information and didn't know where to turn to get help," said Ed Belkin, vice president of communications for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA. When people don't get access to medicine, he said, it drives up health costs on the other end, triggering emergency-room visits or extended hospital stays.

While the stereotype might be that it's the elderly who need prescription assistance, that's less true now that Medicare offers a drug benefit. About 70 percent of applicants through the program are young and middle-aged, Belkin said. Some are single mothers. Some cobble a living together out of more than one job, and, consequently, don't have health-care coverage. Others might be between jobs.

Steve Nash, executive director of the Pima County Medical Society, said he was unfamiliar with the bus program but supported its premise, given that patients often don't know that help is available. "They don't ask their doctors, and the programs aren't well-publicized to physicians. I think there's some hesitancy or embarrassment about needing assistance, but it's a big boat now," he said.

Indeed, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 20 percent of Arizonans were uninsured between 2004 and 2006 — higher than the national average of 15 percent. Meanwhile, a recent report by the non-partisan Milken Institute found 2.8 million people in Arizona in 2003 had some kind of chronic disease, including cancer, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes, at a cost of $21 billion in treatment and lost productivity.

Midtown resident Ivy Romero, 56, said she knows that an offer of free medication sounds too good to be true.

Formerly in jewelry sales, Romero in 2004 was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the nervous system. Also struggling with diabetes and fibromyalgia, and making too much income to qualify for the state health care program for the indigent, Romero was facing medical bills of about $800 a month for eight medications.

"Each illness happened like a chain reaction. I was in shock and at the point of desperation," Romero recalled. "I was being put on medications I couldn't even afford."

Then Romero saw a commercial for the assistance program, which featured talk-show host Montel Williams, who announced his multiple-sclerosis diagnosis in 1999 and serves as national spokesman for the effort.

"I thought all they could say was 'no,'" she said. As it turned out, Romero was approved for all of her medications, free of charge. "It was a godsend. It made it so much easier for me to deal with my illnesses, so that I could move on with my life," she said. She remained on the program until last year, when she was formally approved for disability assistance through Social Security. Last year, she went on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., as an ambassador for the program to talk to Arizona's congressional delegation about its benefits.

Some of the patients referred to the various assistance programs through the Pima Council on Aging have received assistance, others haven't, said ombudsman Stewart Grabel. "It's good that they're advertising the fact assistance is out there, but it's a shame the cost of drugs is so high and that people have to jump through these hoops to get their medications," Grabel said.

People don't have to meet the bus to get assistance. They can go through the same process via a toll-free phone call (1-888-4PPA-NOW) or an online survey (www.pparx.org). The call center can provide assistance in 150 languages.