Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. “We Have The Votes”
- In a new op-ed, Rep. Susan Wild and P4ADNow founder David Mitchell call on the Senate to pass comprehensive drug pricing reforms that include Medicare negotiation to lower prescription drug prices for patients. “We need the Senate to seize the moment and fulfill their promise to pass the package of comprehensive reforms that include both allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices on expensive drugs including insulin and capping insulin copays,” they write. “Patients are depending on the Senate to get back on track to secure a win for the American people.” — (The Hill)
2. A Human Rights Issue
- The high price of insulin makes the case for badly needed comprehensive reforms for all patients. A report from Human Rights Watch explains how the U.S. drug pricing system has allowed drug companies to maintain high and rising prices on insulin — and how this dynamic has undermined our human right to health. The report points directly to the lack of transparency, regulation, and constraints on high drug prices in the United States as areas that lawmakers must address. Jennifer Schuerman, whose son lives with type 1 diabetes, describes the consequences of inaction in an op-ed: “We lose sight of the human cost when we ignore insulin price gouging,” she writes. “At the end of the day, we are putting a price on human life — on a child’s life.” — (Human Rights Watch, Iowa Capital Dispatch)
3. The Cost Of MS
- Prescription drug spending constitutes over 50 percent of the direct medical costs associated with having multiple sclerosis, according to a new study. Passing the package of drug pricing reforms now before the Senate — which includes allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices, limiting annual price hikes to the rate of inflation, and capping out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries — would go far in helping MS patients across the country afford their life-saving and life-sustaining medications. Let’s not waste another moment. — (Axios)