Ahead of the First Presidential Debate, Patients are Calling on Candidates to Talk About Drug Prices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patient advocates are calling on President Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to talk about their plans to lower prescription drug prices during Tuesday night’s debate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. In the past two weeks, more than 1,000advocates have taken to social media to urge debate moderator Chris Wallace to ask the candidates about their plans to lower drug prices and provide relief to millions of Americans.
“Drug prices keep going up and voters want to know what the candidates propose to do about it,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and president of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We hope Joe Biden and President Trump address the issue on Tuesday night.”
The actions are part of a grassroots campaign by Patients For Affordable Drugs Now designed to elevate patient stories and urge voters to support candidates who have plans to lower drug prices. The program includes video testimonials from patients in 14 key states sharing their experiences with high-priced prescription drugs. The campaign also features a website that highlights patient stories and serves as an action hub to give patients tools to demand 2020 candidates commit to plans to lower drug prices.
Drug pricing is a top issue for voters this year. According to Kaiser Family Foundation polling, 87 percent of Americans “say it is at least very important that Congress work on lowering prescription drug costs.”
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is an independent, bipartisan patient organization focused on policies to lower drug prices. P4ADNow does not accept funding from any organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.
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1. “I live, battle, and conquer sickle cell”
A new Patients For Affordable Drugs Action ad features Floridian Clayton “DJ” Martin, who shares his worries about high drug prices and urges voters to support candidates who will take action to lower prices. The ad is part of a 15-state campaign to elevate the issue of drug prices across the country. We are grateful to DJ and all patient advocates for their tireless work to stand up to Big Pharma. — (Florida Politics)
2. Called to the Stand
Six pharma executives representing some of the biggest names in the drug industry are testifying in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform next week. The committee’s probe on unethical and anti-competitive drug pricing practices continues the important work of its late chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings. We’ll be watching the hearings, and we look forward to getting some long-awaited answers. — (FiercePharma)
3. Dubious Discount
President Trump announced Thursday that he will send $200 discount cards to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries. Had he kept his commitment to lower drug prices, he wouldn’t need to promise some Medicare beneficiaries a dubious discount card days before an election. Americans need systemic, enduring drug pricing reforms, not election-year gimmicks. — (STAT)
4. The System is Rigged
The entire drug pricing system is broken, from drug companies that set ever-increasing list prices to pharmacy benefit managers that keep rotating formularies. And who’s paying the price? Patients, who often face uncertainty and exorbitant drug costs at the pharmacy counter. It’s long past time for change. — (The New York Times)
5. Her Story, Her Voice, and Her Vote
Patient advocate Ramae Hamrin, a Minnesota resident who has multiple myeloma, is sharing her story to push for drug pricing reforms that will benefit us all. “Even if you are not in my shoes at the moment, you or someone you love could also be one step away from losing everything in order to simply stay alive. I’m more than happy to bring a face to the unfairness and high cost of prescription drugs for all of us in hopes that something can be done. It has to be.” — (Incurable Blessings)
WASHINGTON, DC – The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, on President Trump’s announcement that he will send $200 discount cards to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries:
“If the president had kept his commitment to lower prescription drug prices, he wouldn’t need to promise some Medicare beneficiaries a dubious discount card days before an election.
“It is not at all clear if this is legal or how the president will pay for his scheme. It is perfectly clear, however, that this will not lower prescription drug prices for 328 million Americans.
“Americans need systemic, enduring reforms to our rigged drug pricing system, not election year gimmicks.”
BACKGROUND
Today President Trump promised to send $200 checks to cover prescription drug expenses for 33 million Medicare beneficiaries.
The Trump administration announced the checks would be paid for by the president’s most-favored nation proposal, which has yet to beenacted — nor has a plan been released for its enactment.
Drug prices continue to rise, with more than 500 drugs seeing a price increase in the first week of January. In the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, drug companies raised the prices of nearly 250 additional drugs.
Patients are suffering — nearly one in three Americans report not taking their medication as prescribed due to price.
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My name is Cheryl and I live in Maine. When my husband, Harold, was prescribed Spiriva to manage his COPD three years ago, we were grateful there was a medication that could effectively manage his symptoms and allow him to continue to work. But we were shocked when we found out the medication would cost us $1,200 every three months. We simply can’t afford that, but Harold needs the medication.
We were forced to make choices no one should ever have to make — keep paying for electricity, or pay for Harold’s medication? Buy healthy groceries, or pay for Harold’s medication? For us, there was no option. We kept paying the $1,200 and stopped paying for our electricity. We stopped buying meat and other nutritious food and stuck to canned soups and noodles, all so my husband could breathe.
We are lucky — after a year, we were able to qualify for a plan that covers much of Harold’s expenses for the Spiriva. It has meant we can return to life more or less as normal. But we are at the mercy of the assistance program and it will stop at the end of the year. That means we will be faced with applying all over again, a process that took a full year last time. Come January, we might be back where we were before — making sacrifices so Harold can breathe.
Without Spiriva, Harold would not be able to work as a farmhand growing potatoes in our home state of Maine. We would be dependent on my salary from managing a local McDonald’s. We have a good life. We like our jobs, and we are proud of our hard work. But right now we know our lives could change as soon as the financial assistance ends. I live in fear of that day.
No one should have to make the choices we have. We need drug prices to come down now.
TikTok may be going away. But your drug pricing newsletter is here to stay.
1. #AskAboutDrugPrices
Patients For Affordable Drugs Action, our sister organization, launched a campaign this week featuring patients calling on fellow voters to support candidates who will commit to lowering drug prices. As part of the campaign, the group will launch digital ads in 15 states, starting this week with Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Minnesota, and Virginia. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action will also focus its efforts on exposing Senator Thom Tillis‘ record of turning his back on patients in service of Big Pharma. — (Patients For Affordable Drugs Action)
2. Yes, the U.S. Government Will Pay Twice for a COVID-19 Vaccine
U.S. taxpayers are underwriting the development of a COVID-19 vaccine — to the tune of $12 billion. But the drug corporations plan to charge taxpayers yet again for the final product. P4AD Founder and President David Mitchell breaks it down from the patient perspective on PBS NewsHour. Our rigged drug pricing system is long overdue for major reforms. — (PBS NewsHour)
3. Drug Prices: Not Falling
On Sunday, President Trump signed the most-favored nations executive order that ties Medicare drug prices to lower prices in other countries. However, many questions about the details of the executive order remain unanswered, and it’s unlikely that Americans will see lower drug prices anytime soon. Advancing the order was a step in the right direction, but we’ll be waiting to see if any meaningful action comes next. — (NPR)
4. Profit Maximizers Don’t Wear Capes
American tax dollars filled global pharma giant AstraZeneca’s coffers with $1.2 billion for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, but the company has CONTINUED TO RAISE DRUG PRICES this year — sometimes even twice on the same medication. — (Los Angeles Times)
5. ?Drug Corporations Cashing in on Crisis
Drug companies are peddling unsubstantiated “news” about progress in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, which leads to inflated stock value. Then, pharma executives and shareholders are selling their stock shares and making millions. Pharma’s relentless bad behavior underscores that Congress must act to protect us from pandemic profiteering. — (Newsweek)
My name is Tammy L. de la Cruz and I live in North Las Vegas, Nevada. I live with a rare autoimmune disorder, and to treat my condition, every week I receive Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. I would become paralyzed without this treatment, which terrifies me.
When I first began IVIG treatment I was covered by Medicaid, so the treatment came at no cost to me. I later switched to marketplace insurance when I started receiving SSDI benefits. The cost under my new insurance increased to about $30 every three weeks when I would go to the doctors for my treatment.
In August of 2018, I began receiving Medicare benefits. I distinctly remember going for my first IVIG treatment after switching to Medicare. When I heard that the copay would be $1,491, I couldn’t believe it. That single copay would cost more than my monthly SSDI benefits. At the time I was going every three weeks for IVIG treatment, but quickly increased to once a week as my doctor suggested.
If the agency I went through to receive my treatments didn’t provide a grant to cover the cost, I simply wouldn’t be able to afford treatment. When Medicare didn’t cover the cost of my medication, I began to give up hope, thinking about what would happen without these life-changing treatments.
During that time, before I found my grant, I thought a lot about what I would lose without my treatment. I have eight grandkids and love helping them out. I volunteer with my local food pantry and with a social service agency that serves those that have intellectual and developmental disabilities. In addition, I enjoyed watching the Special Olympics and even volunteered a few times. I love coloring, reading, and up until a few months ago I attended college full time –– and thanks to my IVIG treatments, I was able to walk across the stage to get my BS in Psychology. Not being able to afford my treatment would have made these enjoyable hobbies more difficult, if not impossible, for me.
I found a grant at the 11th hour, saving myself from paralysis. I know the future of this grant funding is not guaranteed. People with illness shouldn’t have to work so hard to fund extreme drug costs; it’s cruel.
Patients like me shouldn’t have to rely on grants to cover the cost of our treatments. We shouldn’t have to deal with the uncertainty of constantly changing costs and the concerns of what will happen if we lose access to our grant and therefore our prescriptions. No one should have to experience the feeling of hopelessness I felt when I thought I wouldn’t be able to afford the treatment I needed. It doesn’t have to be like this. We need changes to our system that make prescription drugs more affordable.
1. Even More Pandemic Price Hikes
Amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug companies have hiked the prices of 645 brand-name drugs this year, including those used to treat chest pain and depression. Time and again, pharma companies display limitless greed. — (AnalySource)
2. Leave No One Behind
It’s been five years since “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli increased the price of the medication Daraprim by over 5,000 percent to $750 per pill — and the drug still costs that much. Widespread outrage has not stopped drug corporations’ unchecked powers to increase prescription drug prices. We must reform the system to serve all patients — and that means lowering drug prices for all conditions. — (Roll Call)
3. System of Patent Abuse
In a new podcast, host Angela Glover Blackwell and Priti Krishtel, the co-founder of the drug patent watchdog organization I-MAK, discuss how Big Pharma’s patent abuses disproportionately harm people of color. The fight for health equity must include tackling drug companies’ monopoly pricing power. — (Radical Imagination)
My name is Kris Garcia and I’m from Denver, Colorado. I have four bleeding disorders, asthma, and several allergies. Having multiple bleeding disorders, including hemophilia, leaves me in a constant position of uncertainty. I have to be incredibly careful, as any emergency can quickly turn into both a health and financial crisis. Since cauterization is more difficult with my bleeding disorders, I rely on Humate-P should an emergency occur. But the astronomical cost of these drugs only increases the stress of an emergency. Each vial of Humate-P costs $10,000, and for each infusion, I would need four vials.
These costs create a high level of stress for me and have exacerbated health costs for surgeries. When I had tonsil surgery a few years ago, the cost ended up being $1.8 million before insurance as I needed infusions every day and ended up staying in the hospital for a month and a half. The toll such a medical experience takes on someone is taxing enough; the financial burden only makes such a situation more stressful.
I keep four vials in the fridge, but should anything happen, I only have these four doses –– and anything beyond that would put me in financial ruin. Compared to other conditions, little is known about bleeding disorders, so finding a remedy can often be difficult. I’ve found one that has worked for me for the past 20 years, but unless I am receiving grants to cover the costs, there is no way I could afford these treatments.
Additionally, I’m stuck with a decision between high financial costs and risking my health when deciding whether to buy EpiPens for my allergies. The price of EpiPens has increased greatly over recent years and now costs about $600 for two EpiPens. Even with insurance, I would be paying $180 out of pocket. Comparatively, with my current coverage, an ER visit costs about $200. When budgets are tight, I’m left with a terrible decision –– do I play Russian roulette with my life and not buy the EpiPens to save that money, or do I take the risk that I may have to go to the ER should an emergency occur? I shouldn’t be left deciding which is the lesser of two evils, whether to pay for an expensive treatment or to risk my health to save on cost.
The cost of these prescriptions has affected many decisions in my life. I had to give up my business and seek other employment because of how expensive my insurance and medications were. Switching jobs becomes scary since my medications are often only available at special pharmacies, which are not always covered. I currently am insured through my work for an airline, but have a likely furlough coming in September. I’m incredibly concerned about where my coverage will come from, especially if I were to have an emergency.
I shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of a medical emergency also bringing financial ruin to me and my family. These astronomical drug prices have affected decisions in my life and have created a fear of financial ruin. Manufacturers get tons of government funds to produce drugs, but still profit off their patents and charge us unreasonable prices. We need changes to reduce these unaffordable prices so that people like me don’t live in a state of constant fear of whether we’ll be able to access our prescriptions.
