CALIFORNIA — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched new ads today urging Reps. Scott Peters (CA-52) and Lou Correa (CA-46) to vote for passage of strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. The campaign includes TV and digital ads featuring patient advocate Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. It also includes grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and call their members of Congress directly asking them to pass the Build Back Better Act, including legislation to lower drug prices for patients.
“Each infusion of medicine that I need to live costs nearly $40,000. But without it, a minor accident can become a medical crisis for me and a financial crisis for my family,” Kris, a father of three based in Denver, explains in the ads. “For millions of Americans like me, this isn’t about politics — this is about life and death.”
In 2019, Rep. Peters (CA-52) touted his support for H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices. But after receiving over $239,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical and health products industry, he flip-flopped to oppose the bill, even threatening to derail his party’s budget bill if it includes the legislation. Last month, he voted against inclusion of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices in the Build Back Better Act. Watch the CA-52 ad here.
“Scott Peters is standing with Big Pharma and against the will of voters, opposing a plan to lower drug prices,” the ad in CA-52 says. “Tell Representative Peters to fight for patients and vote for the Build Back Better Act.”
Rep. Correa (CA-46) voted for the drug pricing measure H.R. 3 in 2019. This year, however, Rep. Correa joined Rep. Peters in introducing a rival drug pricing bill that fails to empower negotiation in Medicare Part D, which accounts for 83 percent of Medicare drug spending, excludes most expensive Part B drugs from negotiation, and has a much higher out-of-pocket cap. He also signed a letter led by Rep. Peters voicing concerns about partisan drug pricing reforms in May and enjoys a close relationship with pharma-allied groups opposed to negotiation. Watch the CA-46 ad here.
“Lou Correa has the chance to fight for Californians by letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the ad in CA-46 says. “Tell Representative Correa to stand with patients against Big Pharma and vote yes on the Build Back Better Act.”
“91 percent of Californians support allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and 75 percent of voters think drug prices are unreasonable,” 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 is imperative that Reps. Peters and Correa seize this moment and deliver on promises to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for Americans — instead of supporting a weak and ineffective substitute masquerading as negotiation and designed to protect Big Pharma.”
Below are digital ads also running in each district:
P4ADNow also launched ads today urging Reps. Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), and Kathleen Rice (NY-04) to pass strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. These ads come on the heels of P4ADNow’s Arizona ad launch and are running simultaneously with two nationalads that combat Big Pharma’s lies and scare tactics. These ads are part of a seven-figure campaign that includes digital ads running across a variety of websites and news outlets and congressional outreach, where patient advocates are contacting their members of Congress to demand passage of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate. P4ADNow’s recent ads can be found here.
On Capitol Hill, Senate and House leadership along with President Biden are working to craft a reconciliation package that includes legislation to let Medicare negotiate and has the support of all Democratic members of Congress. The current House version of the package includes H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, which recently advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee.
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NEW JERSEY — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new ad today urging Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) to vote for passage of strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. The campaign includes TV and digital ads featuring patient advocate Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. It also includes grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and call their members of Congress directly asking them to pass the Build Back Better Act, including legislation to lower drug prices for patients.
“Each infusion of medicine that I need to live costs nearly $40,000. But without it, a minor accident can become a medical crisis for me and a financial crisis for my family,” Kris, a father of three based in Denver, explains in the ad. “For millions of Americans like me, this isn’t about politics — this is about life and death.”
Rep. Gottheimer (NJ-05) voted for a drug pricing measure to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices in 2019 but is now criticizing the Democrats’ efforts to advance an identical bill as part of reconciliation in the House and is defending the drug industry. He also signed onto a rival drug pricing bill this year that fails to empower negotiation in Medicare Part D, which accounts for 83 percent of Medicare drug spending, excludes most expensive Part B drugs from negotiation, and has a much higher out-of-pocket cap.
Watch the NJ-05 ad here.
“Josh Gottheimer has a chance to fight for New Jerseyans by letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the ad in NJ-05 says. “Tell Representative Gottheimer to stand with patients and vote yes on the Build Back Better Act.”
Below is a digital ad also running in the district:
“90 percent of New Jerseyans in Rep. Gottheimer’s district support allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and 79 percent think drug prices are unreasonable,” 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 is imperative that Rep. Gottheimer seize this moment and deliver on promises to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for Americans.”
P4ADNow also launched ads today urging Reps. Lou Correa (CA-46), Scott Peters (CA-52), Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), and Kathleen Rice (NY-04) to pass strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. These ads come on the heels of P4ADNow’s Arizona ad launch and are running simultaneously with two nationalads that combat Big Pharma’s lies and scare tactics. These ads are part of a seven-figure campaign that includes digital ads running across a variety of websites and news outlets and congressional outreach, where patient advocates are contacting their members of Congress to demand passage of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate. P4ADNow’s recent ads can be found here.
On Capitol Hill, Senate and House leadership along with President Biden are working to craft a reconciliation package that includes legislation to let Medicare negotiate and has the support of all Democratic members of Congress. The current House version of the package includes H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, which recently advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee.
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NEW YORK — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new ad today urging Rep. Kathleen Rice (NY-04) to vote for passage of strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. The campaign includes TV and digital ads featuring patient advocate Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. It also includes grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and call their members of Congress directly asking them to pass the Build Back Better Act, including legislation to lower drug prices for patients.
“Each infusion of medicine that I need to live costs nearly $40,000. But without it, a minor accident can become a medical crisis for me and a financial crisis for my family,” Kris, a father of three based in Denver, explains in the ad. “For millions of Americans like me, this isn’t about politics — this is about life and death.”
Rep. Rice supported H.R. 3 in 2019, and in 2020 campaigned on lowering drug prices and taking on Big Pharma, but broke her promise to patients and flippedher position by voting against including identical legislation in the Build Back Better Act last month in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She also signed onto a rival drug pricing bill that fails to empower negotiation in Medicare Part D, which accounts for 83 percent of Medicare drug spending, excludes most expensive Part B drugs from negotiation, and has a much higher out-of-pocket cap.
Watch the NY-04 ad here.
“Kathleen Rice has a chance to do the right thing and keep her promise to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the ad says. “Tell Representative Rice to vote yes on the Build Back Better Act.”
Below is a digital ad also running in the district:
“Nine out of 10 New Yorkers in Rep. Rice’s district support allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and 8 out of 10 think drug prices are unreasonable,” 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 is imperative that Rep. Rice seize this moment and deliver on promises to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for Americans — instead of supporting a weak and ineffective substitute masquerading as negotiation and designed to protect Big Pharma.”
P4ADNow also launched ads today urging Reps. Lou Correa (CA-46), Scott Peters (CA-52), Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) to pass strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. These ads come on the heels of P4ADNow’s Arizona ad launch and are running simultaneously with two nationalads that combat Big Pharma’s lies and scare tactics. These ads are part of a seven-figure campaign that includes digital ads running across a variety of websites and news outlets and congressional outreach, where patient advocates are contacting their members of Congress to demand passage of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate. P4ADNow’s recent ads can be found here.
On Capitol Hill, Senate and House leadership along with President Biden are working to craft a reconciliation package that includes legislation to let Medicare negotiate and has the support of all Democratic members of Congress. The current House version of the package includes H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, which recently advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee.
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FLORIDA — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new ad today urging Stephanie Murphy (FL-07) to vote for passage of strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. The campaign includes TV and digital ads featuring patient advocate Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. It also includes grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and call their members of Congress directly asking them to pass the Build Back Better Act, including legislation to lower drug prices for patients.
“Each infusion of medicine that I need to live costs nearly $40,000. But without it, a minor accident can become a medical crisis for me and a financial crisis for my family,” Kris, a father of three based in Denver, explains in the ad. “For millions of Americans like me, this isn’t about politics — this is about life and death.”
Rep. Murphy (FL-07) voted for a drug pricing measure to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices in 2019 but voted against including identical legislation in the Build Back Better Act last month. She also joined a rival drug pricing bill that fails to empower negotiation in Medicare Part D, which accounts for 83 percent of Medicare drug spending, excludes most Part B drugs from negotiation, and has a much higher out-of-pocket cap.
Watch the FL-07 ad here.
“Stephanie Murphy has the chance to fight for Floridians by letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the ad says. “Tell Representative Murphy to stand with patients and vote yes on the Build Back Better Act.”
Below is a digital ad also running in the district:
“90 percent of Floridians in Rep. Murphy’s district support allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, and 78 percent think drug prices are unreasonable,” 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 is imperative that Rep. Murphy seize this moment and deliver on promises to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for Americans — instead of supporting a weak and ineffective substitute masquerading as negotiation and designed to protect Big Pharma.”
P4ADNow also launched ads today urging Reps. Lou Correa (CA-46), Scott Peters (CA-52), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), and Kathleen Rice (NY-04) to pass strong Medicare negotiation legislation in the Build Back Better Act. These ads come on the heels of P4ADNow’s Arizona ad launch and are running simultaneously with two nationalads that combat Big Pharma’s lies and scare tactics. These ads are part of a seven-figure campaign that includes digital ads running across a variety of websites and news outlets and congressional outreach, where patient advocates are contacting their members of Congress to demand passage of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate. P4ADNow’s recent ads can be found here.
On Capitol Hill, Senate and House leadership along with President Biden are working to craft a reconciliation package that includes legislation to let Medicare negotiate and has the support of all Democratic members of Congress. The current House version of the package includes H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, which recently advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee.
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MAINE — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new ad today in Maine’s second congressional district thanking Rep. Jared Golden for fighting to let Medicare negotiate drug prices and asking him to get the job done by voting for the Build Back Better Act. The campaign includes TV and digital ads featuring patient advocate Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. It also includes grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and thank Rep. Golden for his support of Medicare negotiation and ask him to pass the Build Back Better Act, including legislation to lower drug prices for patients.
“Each infusion of medicine that I need to live costs nearly $40,000. But without it, a minor accident can become a medical crisis for me and a financial crisis for my family,” Kris, a father of three based in Denver, explains in the ad. “For millions of Americans like me, this isn’t about politics — this is about life and death.”
Rep. Golden (ME-02) is a champion for allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. He campaigned on the issue and went on to vote for H.R. 3, a drug pricing measure that would allow Medicare negotiation, in 2019. Since then, he has continued to push for strong drug pricing legislation in an op-ed calling for the reform and a letter calling for inclusion of negotiation in the reconciliation package. Rep. Golden will have the opportunity to vote for passage of the current drug pricing reform legislation in the full package when it heads to the floor.
Watch the ME-02 ad here.
“Jared Golden is fighting to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices,” the adsays. “Tell Representative Golden, ‘thank you,’ and we’re counting on him to lower drug prices by voting yes for the Build Back Better Act.”
Below is a digital ad also running in the district:
“Rep. Golden has been a real champion for patients from day one. We want him to hear loud and clear: Thank you. A vote for the Build Back Better Act is a vote for patients and lower drug prices, and we have his back,” 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. “Medicare negotiation is the most popular part of the president’s Build Back Better Act, and 94 percent of Mainers in Rep. Golden’s district support the policy, which would lower drug prices. It’s time to get it done. ”
On Capitol Hill, Senate and House leadership along with President Biden are working to craft a reconciliation package that includes legislation to let Medicare negotiate and has the support of all Democratic members of Congress. The current House version of the package includes H.R. 3, a comprehensive bill that allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices, which recently advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Congress considers solutions to lower prescription drug prices, patient advocates across the country are voicing their support for allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Americans. With brand name drug prices in the United States four times higher than the prices in similar countries and one in three adults not taking their medicine as prescribed because of cost, it is clear that we need comprehensive drug pricing reform now.
No one understands the need for lower prices better than patient advocates, the people living with pharmaceutical companies’ high prices. They know there is a clear answer for unaffordable drug prices — strong Medicare negotiation legislation would deliver relief patients so desperately need. From letters-to-the-editor to social media to advocacy tools, patients are adamant that Congress act now!
Below is a highlight of what patient advocates are saying right now about Medicare negotiation.
Patients in their local opinion sections:
Here are some patient LTEs and op-eds that call on Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate.
Letter: Fearmongering from Big Pharma, Don Kreis, Parent of person who lives with Cystic fibrosis, Concord, NewHampshire
Concord Monitor, 9/6/21
My 19-year-old daughter lives with cystic fibrosis. The routine set of prescriptions she needs are priced at roughly $160,000 per year … Big Pharma is fearmongering because they know how important access to medications is for people like her. But allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices wouldn’t limit access at all, it would do the opposite.
Arizonans like me are fed up with high drug prices, and it’s time to fix that, Iesha Meza, Type 1 diabetes, Phoenix, Arizona
Arizona Mirror, 8/24/21
Our lawmakers in Washington, D.C., need to lower prescription drug costs urgently, so that Arizonans and Americans across the country don’t have to continue making difficult choices and impossible tradeoffs between paying for our prescription drugs or other necessary essentials.
Letter: Let Medicare negotiate drug prices, Jacquie Persson, Crohn’s disease, Waterloo, Iowa
The Courier, 8/22/21
If I knew that even without insurance, if the prescription that I needed was within reach, I would no longer have to stress about the “what ifs” … I know that Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst and Rep. Ashley Hinson want patients like me to be able to afford the medications I need. It’s time to allow Medicare to negotiate.
Letter: Manchin and Capito need to back Medicare drug-price negotiations, Ashley Suder, Systemic lupus, Morgantown, West Virginia
Charleston Gazette-Mail, 5/10/21
In the past, I’ve had to stop taking it altogether, patch together funding or switch from critical drugs that my doctors prescribed me to take to less-effective medications… Thankfully, the House of Representatives has reintroduced a bill that would allow Medicare to directly negotiate for lower drug prices. This is a big deal.
Don’t believe these ads, Tammy de la Cruz, Chronic inflammatory polyneuropathy, North Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas Sun, 9/2/21
Medicare negotiation wouldn’t limit access for patients, it would do the opposite. This policy would make sure patients can access the medications we need at prices we can afford.
Patients on Social Media:
Here are some posts from patient advocates sharing their experience with high drug prices and demanding reform:
Patient Advocacy Tools:
Through MedicareNegotiation.org, patients are contacting their members of Congress to demand passage of legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate.
Ramae Hamrin, Multiple myeloma, Bemidji, Minnesota: “In 2018, I was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. I rely on a daily oral chemotherapy drug called Revlimid to keep me alive. At the beginning of this year, the price of this drug went up by 4.5 percent, bringing it to over $15,000 each month. There is a clear answer to these high drug prices — allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices so that people like me don’t have to deplete their life savings, cash out their 401(k)s, and sell their homes just to be able to afford the drugs that keep them alive.”
Kris Garcia, Hemophilia, Denver, Colorado: “Having multiple bleeding disorders, including hemophilia, leaves me in a constant position of uncertainty. Any emergency can quickly turn into both a health and financial crisis. If Medicare were allowed to negotiate lower drug prices, patients like me would be given financial relief from the burdensome cost of prescription drugs. I know all too well that drugs don’t work if people cannot afford them, and it is long overdue that Medicare be able to negotiate for lower drug prices for patients.”
Lynn Scarfuto, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Herkimer, New York: “Helping cancer patients find ways to pay for their medication was my job. When I was diagnosed with cancer, it became my life. But the medicine I depend on is priced at nearly $15,000 every month. What happens to millions of Americans like me who can’t afford the drugs we so desperately need. Congress, the opportunity to act is now.”
Watch in video form HERE.
Patricia Mckenzie, High blood pressure, Insulin-dependent diabetes, Lithonia, Georgia: “People have to choose between eating and their medications. They have to choose between life and death. And that should not be a choice. It is long past time for Congress to pass legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate fair prescription drug prices on behalf of people like me.”
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