Sources, dates, and the limits of what we know
Program information needs evidence. We record available sources and review statuses so you can distinguish documented facts from details that remain unknown.
This page is the method, what “not enough information” means when you see it, and where this registry can still be wrong.
Read this part first
We are not the authority on these programs. The companies that run them are.
Nothing here is a decision about your eligibility. Only the program decides who it accepts. A page can be out of date the day a rule changes, incomplete where a program publishes less than it applies, or simply wrong if we misread it. Confirm with the program before you count on anything, and tell us when we have it wrong.
The method, in four rules
Read the source and status for the particular claim you need.
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1
Prefer primary sources
The program's own application form, eligibility page, or terms document is the preferred evidence for its rules. Directories can identify leads for further checking; a directory listing alone does not confirm medication coverage or eligibility.
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2
Check each claim separately
Evidence checks include record validation and comparison with available sources. Medication identity, program existence, coverage, and eligibility can have different levels of support. Automated checks do not establish independent human or clinical review.
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3
Record updates and corrections
Check the date and review status on the record you are using. Published corrections appear in the registry change history. Source-check dates update when the relevant evidence is checked. Update timing varies; confirm current requirements with the program.
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4
Keep unknowns explicit
Details that remain unresolved are marked unknown or pending. A program name or source URL alone does not establish eligibility or coverage. A source-check date is not a claim that every field was independently reviewed.
What “not enough information” means
An unverified record has details that have not been confirmed. A source may be unavailable, incomplete, or contradictory, or the record may still need review. A program name or source URL alone does not establish eligibility or coverage.
Unknown does not mean ineligible. It means the available evidence does not settle that question. Confirm the requirements directly with the program before deciding whether to apply.
A failed source request also does not prove a program closed or a medication was excluded.
Reasons a detail can remain unknown
These are evidence states, not a list of programs that have been independently reviewed.
- Source unavailable Unknown
- Incomplete published rules Unknown
- Contradictory evidence Needs review
- Coverage not established Unknown
Where the pharmacy prices come from
NADAC, a US government dataset published weekly by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Public, free, and reproducible by anyone through the same API. We never scrape a discount-card site for this.
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It is not a pharmacy quote
NADAC estimates what a retail pharmacy pays a wholesaler. Retail markup and dispensing fees are not included, and this is not an insurance-negotiated price. Your pharmacy price can differ.
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Check the reference dose
A monthly estimate depends on the dose and quantity used. Read the dose assumption beside the figure rather than treating it as a quote for your prescription.
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No match is not a zero price
Where no supported price is available, the cost remains unknown. A range may be shown where the reference doses vary. Confirm actual costs with the pharmacy and program.
Why you will never see “X of an estimated Y”
We do not claim our registry is a complete census of every US assistance program. Our record counts describe the information we track; they are not a denominator for the entire field.
What we can count honestly is our own work: how many manufacturers we have checked, how many programs that turned up, and how many of those we confirmed against the program's own paperwork. Those are the figures on the manufacturer census and the directory, and they are labelled as our work rather than as the size of the field.
Free and independent
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The public registry and approved API access are free.
Browsing the registry and using the eligibility checker are free and require no account. API access is free by application for approved uses. No money from any drug company, and no program pays to be listed, ranked or featured. Placement is not for sale at any price.
API access is free and does not influence what the data says. See the API page for access and dataset licensing terms. If any part of that changes, it will be disclosed on the page where it applies and dated in the registry record, not buried here. More about who runs this
Found something wrong?
Tell us so we can check the claim against its source. Corrections are logged publicly, including the ones that make us look bad.