Welcome To The Week In Review.
- “This Legislation Is Unforgivable.”
- Patients are drawing a line in the sand, pushing back hard on Republican Senators Lankford (OK), Lee (UT), Lummis (WY), and Rubio (FL)’s recent effort to force them to pay more for their prescriptions. Senator Lee introduced, and Senators Lankford, Lummis, and Rubio cosponsored, the so-called Protect Drug Innovation Act, which aims to reverse the life-changing drug price reforms recently passed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. In response, P4ADNow mobilized patients and launched digital ads in Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, and Florida to send a clear message to these senators: Don’t raise our drug prices. “I’m furious that Senator Lee spews Big Pharma lies while he tries to make sure drug companies can continue to price gouge me for my prescriptions,” said Meg Jackson-Drage, from Magna, Utah who lives with fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, both of which require costly medication. After seeing Rachel Maddow call out Senator Rubio, saying, “it is literally a bill to make prescription drugs more expensive for senior citizens,” patient advocate Sheldon Armus of Boynton Beach said, “Finally, Congress passed a law to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and Senator Rubio wants to reverse it?! Makes no sense.” Clayton McCook, from Edmond, Oklahoma whose daughter, Lily, lives with type 1 diabetes shared, “The Inflation Reduction Act is a huge step in the right direction to lower drug prices. Our senators should be working to expand these reforms to all Americans, not reverse them. This legislation is unforgivable.” — (P4ADNow, MSNBC)
2. Thank You, Mr. President
- Yesterday, President Biden signed an executive order that directs the Department of Health and Human Services to explore new actions it can take to lower prescription drug costs for middle-class families. “Specifically, the president is calling on the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) to craft plans to lower the price of medicines within 90 days, and for the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a formal report outlining those proposals,” The Washington Post reported. It’s very good that President Biden is taking this additional step and we look forward to seeing what CMMI will bring forward and how we can support future steps to lower drug prices and improve the health of everyone. — (The White House, The Washington Post)
3. Popular Provisions
- A new Kaiser Family Foundation health survey that tracked motivating issues for voters leading up to the midterms found that reducing the cost of prescription drugs is resonating with voters, especially seniors. Results show voters are more likely to vote for candidates that support the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. Majorities of voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports placing a limit on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for people on Medicare (66 percent), capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs for people with Medicare (65 percent), and authorizing the federal government to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs for people on Medicare (59 percent). Patients want the government to lower drug prices, and this year, Democrats delivered. — (KFF)
One more thing: We were thrilled to learn that Priti Krishtel is among the newest recipients of the MacArthur genius grant! ? Congratulations, Priti! Thank you for your work to expose Big Pharma’s patent abuses and to increase access to medicine for all patients. Check out Priti’s NPR interview here.
Have a great weekend, everyone!