Are you or a relative lacking prescription drug insurance and looking for ways to limit out-of-pocket medication costs?

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance Bus will have a tour stop from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday Aug. 8 at Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe. Details are posted at the MonroeTalks calendar.

You may have seen the public service announcements for this prescription drug program on television. Here’s a description on its web site:

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America’s pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that’s right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free. Its mission is to increase awareness of patient assistance programs and boost enrollment of those who are eligible.

The PPA Bus and its partner web site are designed to provide a single point of access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 180 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies.

Local blog readers: if you have a relative who might qualify for this program, be sure to call and let them know about it. There will be a notice in the print edition of The Monroe Evening News later this week. (Update: story ran page 7C Aug. 3.) But some of your older relatives might need your assistance in getting to the bus stop appointment or logging onto your computer to use the web-based system.