Tucson Patient Calls On Senator Sinema To Support Meaningful Medicare Negotiation To Lower Drug Prices In New Ad
“Tell Senator Sinema To Do The Right Thing — Don’t Sell Out Arizonans To Big Pharma”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now announced a new ad today in Arizona as part of its campaign to push for inclusion of strong legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices in the Build Back Better Act. The ad comes as efforts to include drug pricing provisions in the reconciliation package have surged in recent days after the president’s framework failed to include such provisions.
The new ad, which will run on Arizona cable television and digital platforms starting this week, features Tucson patient advocate Brenda Dickason, a small business owner and former police detective and teacher who lives with asthma and severe allergies. In addition to this new ad, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is continuing to run an adcalling out Senator Sinema and Reps. Peters, Rice, and Schrader for their ongoing efforts to gut and block Medicare negotiation legislation. The campaign also includes grassroots advocacy, in which Arizonans contact Senator Sinema to support passage of legislation to lower drug prices.
“Right now, Senator Kyrsten Sinema is working to weaken a provision to lower the prices of prescription drugs that enjoys support from 90 percent of Americans — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike,” said David Mitchell, a patient with incurable blood cancer whose drugs carry a list price of more than $900,000 per year and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “It’s gone on long enough. Senator Sinema must support strong Medicare negotiation, or she will be ignoring the will of the people she represents — 9 out of 10 Arizona voters.”
“Senator Sinema, we’re counting on you to keep your promise and allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices,” Brenda, a Medicare beneficiary who depends on EpiPens that are priced at $250 for a pack of two, says in the ad. “I devoted my life to serving my community as a police detective and teacher. When it was time to retire, I had to start a small business just to afford my medications. I still can’t afford all of my prescriptions and I can barely keep my business afloat. As Arizonans and Amercians, we deserve better.”
In 2018, SenatorSinema ran on a promise to lower drug prices. She has since received $108,500 from the drug industry in the 2020 election cycle. Sinema’s new federal election filing shows she raised roughly $55,000 in the third quarter of 2021 alone from drug industry executives and political action committees. She has been an obstacle to proposals from the White House and Congress that allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for the most expensive drugs that patients struggle to afford. The senator reportedly agreed to a drug pricing provision similar to those in a bill designed by Reps. Peters and Schrader that masquerades as drug pricing reform but would actually maintain the status quo and keep prices high.
“Tell Senator Sinema to do the right thing — don’t sell out Arizonans to Big Pharma,” the new ad concludes.
“We Must Deliver On Our Promise To Lower The Amount Of Money Our Constituents Pay For Prescription Drugs”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As congressional Democrats work to add drug pricing provisions, including Medicare negotiation, into the Build Back Better Act, 15 frontline House Democrats sent a letter yesterday to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer urging immediate action to address the high price of prescription drugs. Led by Rep. Angie Craig (MN-02), the letter is signed by Reps. Colin Allred (TX-32), Cindy Axne (IA-03), Sharice Davids (KS-03), Josh Harder (CA-10), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Susie Lee (NV-03), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), and Susan Wild (PA-07).
“On behalf of patients all across this country, we want to thank Congresswoman Craig and these members of Congress who are going to the mat fighting to add Medicare negotiation to lower drug prices back into the Build Back Better plan,” David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, said in Rep. Craig’s press release. “Medicare negotiation is supported by 90 percent of voters who are depending on Congress to deliver years of promises to provide relief to patients struggling to afford their prescription medications. These members know that the moment for action is now to enact meaningful reforms that will fix a rigged system and restore balance to ensure we get the innovation we need at prices we can afford. The fight is not over, and we are proud to stand with these members.”
Momentum has beenbuilding over the weekend to ensure that the most popular provision — allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices — is included in the Build Back Better Act. Congressional leaders have been working to agree on meaningful provisions for the package that would lower prices for patients. Democratic members on bothsides of the Capitol havebeenclearthatMedicarenegotiationmustbeincluded in the final package. Last week, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now and AARP demanded Congress add drug pricing reform into the Build Back Better Act. Patients For Affordable Drugs Now called the lack of its inclusion in the president’s framework “a huge failure” and AARP said it is “outraged” by the exclusion.
October 31, 2021 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C., 20515
The Honorable Steny Hoyer Majority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C., 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer:
Thank you for your leadership and continued efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs. As majority-makers in competitive districts, we promised our constituents that we would come to Washington to fight on their behalf for lower drug prices. We cannot turn back now on our promise to the American people. We urge you in the strongest terms possible to include legislative language in the Build Back Better Act that will be voted on by the full House to accomplish this.
The pharmaceutical industry has gouged the American public for decades. As a country, we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on prescription drugs, and yet our constituents must often choose between purchasing prescribed medications or putting food on the table. It is unacceptable that anyone in the wealthiest country in the world cannot access the medications they need to stay alive.
With two lobbyists per Member of Congress, we know that Big Pharma is deeply invested in the status quo. Our current system forbids Medicare from negotiating the prices it pays for prescription drugs. As a result, millions of Americans are forced to spend thousands of dollars a year on their medications – or go without.
In many cases, as with insulin, these medications have been on the market for decades. In 1991, a bottle of Humalog insulin cost $21. Today the average list price is over $300. That is inexcusable. In these instances, we are not paying for research and development. By allowing the cost of drugs like insulin to rise year after year, we are financing soaring executive salaries, stock buybacks and outrageous profit margins on the backs of our seniors.
With the Build Back Better agenda, we have a perhaps once in a generation opportunity to change the status quo and make good on our promise that no one should have to choose between affording their prescription drugs or food or housing. The public is on our side. Big Pharma is not.
Soon, we must go back to our districts and explain what we’ve done in Washington to make our constituents’ lives better. We ran on upsetting the status quo and lowering out-of-pocket costs for healthcare and prescription drugs. If we fail, we’ll need to explain to them why we let Big Pharma win, why we let entrenched special interests take precedence over the American people.
You have dedicated your careers to lowering the cost of healthcare. We stand with you in your continued efforts. The moment is now. We must deliver on our promise to lower the amount of money our constituents pay for prescription drugs. We must demonstrate that we work for the American people and not the pharmaceutical industry. Our constituents are counting on us.
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My name is Brenda Dickason and I am a retired Tucson police department detective and middle school science teacher. I have asthma and am also allergic to both bee stings and latex. I am also a small business owner who sells specialty soaps and seasonal wreaths — in large part to help pay for the very expensive medications I need for my asthma and allergies.
I am supposed to carry an EpiPen with me at all times to avoid hospitalization for my severe allergies. I am 66 years old and recently switched to Medicare. I can’t believe how expensive my EpiPens are on Medicare — over $250 each and every time. Because of the price, I have a difficult time refilling my prescription.
There have been times where I could not afford to carry an EpiPen and ended up hospitalized with anaphylactic shock after being exposed to latex.
I have worked hard my entire life, giving back to my community as a detective and teacher and was looking forward to my retirement. I had no idea how crippling the costs of both my EpiPen and inhaler would be. I now rely on my small business sales in order to be able to afford the cost of my prescriptions.
It is unfair that seniors like myself should have to worry as much as I do to afford our prescriptions. I shouldn’t have to spend my retirement praying that my small business sales go well so that I can finally purchase my EpiPen. It isn’t right. Something has to change. Drug prices must be lowered now.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to President Biden’s Build Back Better framework released today:
“The lack of provisions to lower drug prices in the Build Back Better framework is a huge failure that will harm millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats and the president to deliver on their promises and provide desperately needed relief. It is an indictment of our entire political system that a handful of members of Congress who are working on behalf of Big Pharma have so far blocked reform.
“On behalf of patients, we demand that congressional Democrats reject this framework until it includes the most popular provision: effective Medicare negotiation to lower drug prices for Americans. This means allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on expensive drugs crushing patients, inflationary caps on price increases in Medicare and the commercial sector, and capping out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.
“Without Medicare negotiation, the Build Back Better framework goes against the will of 90 percent of voters — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. It maintains the status quo, leaving millions of Americans paying almost four times what people in other wealthy nations pay for the same brand-name drugs, and facing heartbreaking and life-threatening decisions between paying their bills and picking up their prescriptions.
“Until these provisions are included, this plan does not deliver on the promises made by the president and Democrats and does not provide the relief patients need. It must be rejected.”
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to recent efforts by sponsors of a drug pricing bill to replace meaningful drug pricing provisions in the Build Back Better plan with features of their own bill, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now sent a letter to all six sponsors outlining why their legislation is not Medicare negotiation, but rather legislation designed to preserve the drug industry’s unfettered ability to keep dictating prices.
“The Reduced Costs And Continued Cures Act is nothing more than a fraud masquerading as negotiation,” David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, says in the letter. “In fact, instead of allowing negotiation, the bill blocks negotiation on virtually all prescription drugs and preserves the power of drug companies to dictate monopoly prices. This bill would thwart the will of 90 percent of Americans who want Medicare to negotiate on their behalf.”
The letter examines the bill to reveal how the sponsors have constructed the legislation to preclude negotiation on most of the drugs that are costliest to patients and Medicare, using three criteria:
1. Prohibiting negotiation on any drugs in Medicare Part D, which covers the majority of drugs and represents the most spending. 2. Prohibiting negotiation on any drugs in their periods of FDA-granted market exclusivity or initial patent exclusivity. 3. Prohibiting negotiation on drugs once there is a competitor on the market, which typically occurs only after a drug’s period of exclusivity has expired.
Read the full letter below.
“In order to stand with patients and your constituents, we are calling on you to halt your attempts to incorporate these broad exclusions into the Medicare negotiation provisions in the Build Back Better Act,” Mitchell continues in his letter to the six members. “Stand with patients for strong Medicare negotiation provisions and enforcement mechanisms that will empower negotiation on the costliest drugs taking a toll on patients; this will ensure Americans get the innovation they need at prices they can afford.”
All six members supported H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, in 2019. But this fall, Reps. Peters, Schrader, Rice, and Murphy voted against the provision’s inclusion in the Build Back Better plan. Reps. Correa and Gottheimer have not been faced with a vote on the legislation yet, but all six sponsors signed a letter expressing concern about the comprehensive legislation in addition to signing on to the pharma-backed legislation.
P4ADNow is currently running an adurging Democrats to keep their promise and pass real Medicare negotiation that will reduce prices on costly, monopoly brand-name drugs.
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Ad Responds To Reps. Peters, Rice, And Schrader And Senator Sinema’s Attempt To Gut Medicare Negotiation Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to recent attempts by a small group of Democrats to gut Medicare negotiation provisions in the Build Back Better reconciliation package, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a new ad today urging Democrats to keep their promise and pass real Medicare negotiation that will reduce prices on costly, monopoly brand-name drugs. The ad features Therese Ball, a registered nurse and multiple sclerosis patient, and will run on national networks and digital platforms, as well as in Southern California, New York, Oregon, and Arizona starting this week.
“Instead of standing with their constituents and supporting legislation that would let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices, pharma henchmen Reps. Scott Peters, Kathleen Rice, and Kurt Schrader — aided and abetted by Senator Kyrsten Sinema — are serving their Big Pharma campaigncontributors by pushing an alternate bill that would exempt the most expensive drugs from negotiation and leave drug companies with the power to continue dictating prices for brand-name drugs,” said David Mitchell, a patient with incurable blood cancer and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Medicare negotiation is the most popular priority of the Build Back Better plan. Patients need relief now with real negotiation to lower the prices of brand-name drugs that are crushing us — not a bill that excludes those drugs and sells us out to Big Pharma.”
Masquerading as Medicare negotiation, the alternate proposal that Reps. Peters, Rice, and Schrader and Senator Sinema are pushing would not allow for negotiation on the most costly drugs in both Parts B and D nor drugs still in their period of monopoly exclusivity. It would maintain the status quo, leaving drug corporations with the power to continue dictating prices of brand-name drugs and American patients paying four times what people in other nations pay for their prescription medicines.
“The medications I need to live are priced at over $7,000 every month. I can’t afford these prices — I don’t know how anyone can,” multiple sclerosis patient Therese Ball of Ogden Dunes, Indiana, says in the ads. “It makes me so angry that members of Congress are choosing Big Pharma over patients — it’s unforgivable.”
This new ad launches as President Biden has been pushing Democrats to settle outstanding issues in the Build Back Better reconciliation bill and pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan by the end of October.
“Some in Congress are siding with Big Pharma to gut the plan to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the ad says while showing images of Rep. Peters, Senator Sinema, Rep. Schrader, and Rep. Rice. “Tell Democrats and President Biden to keep their promise. Don’t let Big Pharma dictate prices.”
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OREGON — In response to yesterday’s reporting that Rep. Kurt Schrader (OR-05) is among a group of Democrats pressuring Congress to weaken or abandon Medicare negotiation provisions in the reconciliation package, the following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now:
“Americans are paying almost four times what other nations pay for brand-name drugs. But instead of supporting legislation that would let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for Americans, Rep. Schrader is pushing a substitute that would exempt the most expensive drugs from negotiation and leave drug companies with the power to continue dictating prices for brand-name drugs. The proposed alternate bill supported by Rep. Schrader is a sellout to Big Pharma that renders Medicare negotiation meaningless and fails to deliver on Democrats’ promise to help patients by lowering drug prices.
“To be clear, effective Medicare negotiation legislation must allow negotiation for all drugs under both Parts B and D as well as drugs still in their period of exclusivity. Rep. Schrader’s proposal is masquerading as Medicare negotiation and would maintain the status quo, leaving patients paying by far the highest prices in the world for their prescription drugs.
“Medicare negotiation is the most popular priority of the Build Back Better plan and 91 percent of voters in Rep. Schrader’s district want Congress to pass Medicare negotiation. If this alternative proposal moves forward, voters will remember that when given the choice, Rep. Schrader chose to carry Big Pharma’s water instead of acting on behalf of his constituents’ needs.”
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CALIFORNIA — In response to yesterday’s reporting that Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52) is among a group of Democrats pressuring Congress to weaken or abandon Medicare negotiation provisions in the reconciliation package, the following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now:
“Americans are paying almost four times what other nations pay for brand-name drugs. But instead of supporting legislation that would let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for Americans, Rep. Peters is pushing a substitute that would exempt the most expensive drugs from negotiation and leave drug companies with the power to continue dictating prices for brand-name drugs. The proposed alternate bill supported by Rep. Peters is a sellout to Big Pharma that renders Medicare negotiation meaningless and fails to deliver on Democrats’ promise to help patients by lowering drug prices.
“To be clear, effective Medicare negotiation legislation must allow negotiation for all drugs under both Parts B and D as well as drugs still in their period of exclusivity. Rep. Peters’ proposal is masquerading as Medicare negotiation and would maintain the status quo, leaving patients paying by far the highest prices in the world for their prescription drugs.
“Medicare negotiation is the most popular priority of the Build Back Better plan and 90 percent of voters in Rep. Peters’ district want Congress to pass Medicare negotiation. If this alternative proposal moves forward, voters will remember that when given the choice, Rep. Peters chose to carry Big Pharma’s water instead of acting on behalf of his constituents’ needs.”
