KFF Health News found people waiting overnight for a free clinic eight miles from the U.S. Capitol. The medicine they were prescribed costs a few dollars. Getting it renewed is the hard part.
The short answer: At a free pop-up clinic in Takoma Park, Maryland, patients with high blood pressure or diabetes left with prescriptions for a 90-day supply of pills and were told to connect with community health centers or free clinics, KFF Health News reports. A nurse there said people who lose insurance can't get their prescriptions renewed. The pills are not the expensive part: at one cash-price mail-order pharmacy, 90 tablets of four generics for those conditions cost $10.86 to $11.79 with fees and shipping. The hard part is finding a clinician to renew them before the bottle is empty.
What KFF Health News found
Phil Galewitz of KFF Health News reported from a weekend clinic at Takoma Academy run by Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit that says on its own site it provides free dental, vision, and medical care through volunteer mobile clinics, with no insurance required.
Doors were scheduled to open at 6 a.m. on October 17. The first patients drove up shortly before midnight, and by 4 a.m. about 80 cars had arrived. Dozens of people slept in them. The clinic saw 467 patients, and 99 got vision exams.
The school sits eight miles northeast of the Capitol, in an area where the median household income tops $108,000 and about 94% of people have health insurance, according to census data cited by KFF Health News. Most patients were uninsured, but 1 in 4 had coverage, such as Medicare or a job-based plan. In a Remote Area Medical survey reported in the article, nearly two-thirds of patients said they had no usual place for care other than a hospital emergency room.
The renewal gap
Dana Bensinger, a nurse specialist at the clinic, said many patients had high blood pressure or diabetes. They were given prescriptions for a 90-day supply and told to find free or low-cost primary care at community health centers or free clinics.
"We have seen a lot of folks who lose insurance or are not able to keep it, and so they can’t get their prescriptions renewed," Bensinger told KFF Health News.
The condition does not end when the coverage does. The renewal still needs a clinician, and for many people, the clinician came with the insurance.
National polling shows how often this plays out. In KFF's March 2026 poll, 43% of U.S. adults said they had not taken a medication as prescribed in the past year because of cost, including 27% who did not fill a prescription and 19% who cut pills in half or skipped doses. Among uninsured adults under 65, the share was 58%, compared with 43% of insured adults under 65. In a separate KFF survey from May 2026, 62% of uninsured adults under 65 said they had skipped or postponed care they needed because of the cost.
What 90 tablets cost
Prices below come from Cost Plus Drugs' public price list, checked November 3, 2026. Each total is the price per tablet times 90, plus a $5 dispensing fee and $5.25 standard shipping (each item's shipped total minus its unshipped total).
| Generic (condition, per Cost Plus) | 90 tablets | With $5 dispensing fee | With $5.25 shipping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisinopril 10 mg (high blood pressure) | $1.18 | $6.18 | $11.43 |
| Amlodipine 5 mg (high blood pressure) | $0.61 | $5.61 | $10.86 |
| Losartan 50 mg (high blood pressure) | $1.54 | $6.54 | $11.79 |
| Metformin 500 mg (diabetes) | $0.96 | $5.96 | $11.21 |
Whether 90 tablets lasts 90 days depends on your prescribed dose. Cost Plus requires a prescription. These are reference prices, not a recommendation of a drug or a pharmacy, and Temi does not sell them.
The medicine costs less than $12. The system around it had people waiting overnight in a parking lot.
What to do with the 90 days
- Find a community health center now, not on day 89. You can get low-cost care at a nearby community health center, and how much you pay depends on your income, according to HealthCare.gov. Search for one with HRSA's locator.
- Check coverage this month. Open Enrollment on HealthCare.gov runs November 1 to January 15; enroll by December 15 for coverage that starts January 1. In Maryland, Maryland Health Connection says to enroll in a health plan by January 15.
- If you just lost coverage, the clock is shorter. Losing coverage can qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period within 60 days, or 90 days if you lost Medicaid or CHIP. You can apply for Medicaid or CHIP at any time.
Where Temi fits
Temi does not serve Maryland or Washington, D.C., yet, and it is not a free clinic: no dental, vision, or in-person exams. In the states we serve, Temi handles renewals of ongoing, non-controlled medications online. You see the flat review fee before you pay: $15 per renewal, or $0 with Temi Care ($449 a year). A licensed physician reviews each request and decides, and the answer can be no. You choose the pharmacy and pay it directly for the medication. Reviews come within 48 hours, often sooner. We serve patients in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
The KFF Health News article, KFF's polling summary, the HealthCare.gov and Maryland Health Connection pages, and the Cost Plus Drugs price list were read on November 3, 2026. Prices change often, so check before you buy.
