Medical Preparedness · Medications and Prescriptions
Medications and Prescriptions: keeping access open when pharmacies close.
Six planning guides for the medicines your household takes every day: the written list, the supply buffer, refrigerated medicines, and what to do when you have to leave home.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
Planning guidance, not medical advice. This section helps households prepare for medical continuity during disruptions. Work with your doctor, pharmacist, and specialist for your household's specific medical needs.
What this category covers
Most households already depend on daily medicine. The plan is what keeps it flowing.
Ready.gov notes that about half of all Americans take a prescription medicine every day, and that an emergency can make it difficult to refill a prescription or find an open pharmacy.1 The guides in this category close that gap before it opens.
CDC's Prepare Your Health program puts the first step plainly: talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how to create an emergency supply of medicines, and keep a list that includes diagnosis, dosage, frequency, medical supply needs, and allergies.2 Everything else in this section builds on those two actions.
Some help also exists after a disaster. When the federal Emergency Prescription Assistance Program is activated, enrolled pharmacies can fill prescriptions and some medical supplies and equipment for uninsured people living in a federally identified disaster area.3 It is a backstop, which is why the planning comes first.
What these guides do not cover
- Dosing, substitutions, or drug interactions. Your prescriber and pharmacist handle those.
- Starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
- Psychiatric medication planning: Mental Health
- Hands-on first aid, including severe allergic reactions: First Aid
Where to start
Four steps, in the order that matters.
-
Write the list.
One page per person: brand and generic names, dose, prescriber, pharmacy, and allergies.
Medication List -
Ask about a buffer.
At your next appointment, ask your prescriber and pharmacist how to build an emergency supply your insurance allows.2
Prescription Preparedness -
Flag anything that needs cold.
Mark every medicine that needs refrigeration, and keep a cooler and chemical ice packs with your kit.2
Refrigerated Medications -
Set a review date.
CDC suggests checking emergency kits every six months so the contents stay current.4
Expired Medications
Guides in this category
Six guides. One for each way access can break.
Prescription Preparedness
The supply buffer, generic names, state emergency dispensing rules, and the questions to ask your doctor and pharmacist before storm season.
Read the guide
Building a Medication List
What to record for every prescription, over-the-counter medicine, and supplement, where to keep copies, and how to keep the list current.
Read the guide
Refrigerated Medications
Insulin, liquid antibiotics, and biologics during a power outage: keeping them cool, never frozen, and replacing anything floodwater reached.
Read the guide
Over-the-Counter Medicines
Seven categories worth keeping at home, how to store them, age limits to know, and a rotation system that prevents waste.
Read the guide
Expired Medications
What an expiration date measures, why FDA advises against using expired medicine, and two habits that keep old supply out of your kit.
Read the guide
Travel and Evacuation Prescriptions
Packing medications to leave home, getting through security, refilling in another state, and the programs that help when medications are lost.
Read the guide
Common questions
Planning questions, answered plainly.
How much extra medication should I keep for emergencies?
There is no single number that fits every prescription or insurance plan. CDC advises asking your doctor or pharmacist how to create an emergency supply of medicines, and its disability preparedness guidance suggests at least a one-week supply of all prescription medications in an emergency kit.4 Your prescriber decides what is appropriate for each medicine.
What happens to refrigerated medicine when the power goes out?
FDA notes that temperature-sensitive medicines may lose potency when they are not stored at the recommended temperature.5 If a refrigerated medicine was not kept at its recommended temperature during an outage, check its storage instructions or ask a pharmacist, health care provider, or the manufacturer whether it can still be used, and replace any that cannot as soon as possible.5 CDC advises keeping insulin cool but never frozen, and away from direct heat and sunlight.6 Plan the cooler and ice packs before the outage.
Can I use medicine that got wet in a flood?
FDA warns that medicines exposed to floodwater or water that may be contaminated can become unsafe to use.5 Ask your pharmacist about a replacement, and keep medicines in waterproof containers so the question never comes up.
Can I get prescriptions after a disaster if I have no insurance?
When the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP) is activated, enrolled pharmacies can fill prescriptions and some supplies and equipment for uninsured people in the federally identified disaster area. EPAP covers only items prescribed by a licensed provider, and only while it is active.3
Sources
- Ready.gov (FEMA). Build a Kit. https://www.ready.gov/kit. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prepare Your Health: Prescriptions. https://www.cdc.gov/prepare-your-health/take-action/prescriptions.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (HHS). About the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program. https://www.aspr.gov/readiness-response/response-operations/epap/about-epap. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Building an Emergency Kit (Disability and Emergency Preparedness). https://www.cdc.gov/disability-emergency-preparedness/people-with-disabilities/build-a-kit.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Safe Drug Use After a Natural Disaster. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/emergency-preparedness-drugs/safe-drug-use-after-natural-disaster. Accessed October 6, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Managing Insulin in an Emergency. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/articles/managing-insulin-in-emergency.html. Accessed October 6, 2026.
Connected guides
Medications and Prescriptions connects to the rest of your plan.
First Aid
The hands-on half: emergencies, wounds, burns, and the household kit.
Household Medical Profile
The record every medication plan starts from.
Chronic Conditions
Condition-specific planning for diabetes, heart disease, COPD, and more.
Medical Devices and Power
Backup power for the equipment that delivers or monitors medication.
Medical Bag and Supplies
Where the medicines and the list travel when you leave home.
Power Outage
How outages unfold locally, including refrigeration timelines.