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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FLORIDA — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today calling on Rep. Stephanie Murphy (FL-07) to support swift passage of H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices for Floridians. The campaign includes digital advertising and grassroots advocacy to enable constituents to contact Rep. Murphy to urge her to stand with Floridians and support H.R. 3.
“Our message to Rep. Murphy is clear: You have a choice. You can stand with Big Pharma, which is fighting against lower drug prices for your constituents, or stand with Floridians. Now is the moment to show that you will fight for patients,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Floridians need Rep. Murphy to push for passage of H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”
H.R. 3 was recently reintroduced in the House of Representatives. The chamber passed the bill in the 116th Congress. H.R. 3 is a comprehensive bill that will lower prices, rein in price gouging, and reduce out-of-pocket costs by restoring balance to the U.S. drug pricing system to ensure both innovation and affordability.
The campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching simultaneously in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C. It comes on the heels of Big Pharma’s recent attack adloaded with lies about H.R. 3.
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We at Patients For Affordable Drugs Now are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Clayton “DJ” Martin, 33, a Jacksonville, Florida father and sickle cell warrior.
DJ was a fierce advocate with Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. He was dedicated to fighting for an affordable and accessible cure for sickle cell. He graciously shared his fight with us, saying:
“As a result of sickle cell, I have also been diagnosed with avascular necrosis in my left hip and end-stage renal failure. It took me about seven years to complete my bachelor’s degree due to the setbacks and complications that come with sickle cell. An affordable cure would be monumental and would totally alleviate the pain many patients go through. Everybody who needs this cure should be able to get it, regardless of price.”
In October 2019, he visited the Washington, DC offices of his federal lawmakers to advocate for legislation that would make drugs more affordable. And earlier this year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, DJ penned a column for The Orlando Sentinel, about the impact Big Pharma has on Americans in the midst of a global pandemic.
“If big pharma is allowed to retain systematic control of the drug industry during this pandemic, it will not be just you or me that suffer the consequences, but the country as a whole,” Martin wrote. This September, DJ told his story with Florida voters in a video where he shared his love and worry for his daughter, who also lives with the sickle cell trait. He called on his fellow Floridians to join him in electing candidates who fight for patients like him.
DJ’s advocacy did not start nor stop with P4ADNOW, instead he spent his life dedicated to advocating for the lives of everyone fighting sickle cell. He founded the Benjamin Ivory Foundation to bring awareness to sickle cell and advocate for optimal health to people living with it — all in the name of his friend and fellow sickle cell warrior, Benjamin Ivory Reddick.
DJ Martin is the epitome of the advocate we all strive to be. He was kind, dedicated, and caring. We are so lucky that he devoted so much of his time to fighting for affordable drugs prices. His death is a loss to our movement, but he inspires us to carry on.
Our heart goes out to DJ’s family, friends, and all of the people whose lives he touched. He will be missed.
TALLAHASSEE — Big Pharma is furiously lobbying Washington to protect its profits, but Sen. Rick Scott is fighting for patients as he works to lower drug prices. That’s why today, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a campaign to thank Sen. Scott for his leadership in the fight to lower drug prices and encourage him to support a key Senate bill that would protect Americans from unjustified drug price hikes.
Watch the ad campaign video, “Ashley.”
Currently, the average American pays two to three times more for prescription drugs than citizens in other wealthy countries. The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019 would curtail runaway price hikes in America and cap out-of-pocket costs for patients on Medicare, who can face more than $15,000 a year in drug costs.
“Senator Scott has been standing up to Big Pharma since he got to Washington, through his support of the We PAID Act and the Transparent Drug Pricing Act,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “President Trump supports the bipartisan Senate bill, and now we’re asking Senator Scott to join in cosponsoring it. We want him to know that patients have his back.”
Today’s ads are part of the multi-million dollar campaign Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched last month that features patients speaking out in support of proposals in the House and Senate to rein in skyrocketing drug prices. The campaign features TV, digital, and radio ads across the country that show the toll high prescription drug prices are taking on everyday Americans. In addition to paid media, the effort features visits from patients to Washington to share their stories in person and gives patients a suite of tools to contact their representatives in support of lowering drug prices.
Big Pharma is spending millions to distort, demonize, and relentlessly attack these proposals because the changes could actually break the rigged system that keeps pharma profits high and patients’ costs skyrocketing.
Americans overwhelmingly support action to lower drug prices. Eighty-six percent of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate. Nearly 1 in 3 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed due to cost.
The mission of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is to educate the public and mobilize patients to advocate for policies to curb runaway drug prices in America. Touted by The Hill as “a leading drug pricing advocacy group,” Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is a bipartisan non-profit organization established under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Service code. As a 501(c)(4), P4ADNow engages in electoral activity and direct advocacy in support of legislation that would lower drug prices.
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My name is Ruth Rinehart and I am a resident of Tampa, Florida. I am a nurse case manager and just like some of my patients, I rely on life-saving medication for my survival.
I have a primary immune deficiency and have required an antibody replacement every three weeks for the last 26 years. The cost of my infusions varies between $3,000 and $4,000 each time. As a result of this, I have to make sure I am covered under the most expensive Medicare plan to make sure the infusions are covered at the highest rate. The cost of the insurance plan is equivalent to the cost of our mortgage.
A few years ago, we fell victim to the decline of the economy, the housing boom, and my husband’s job loss. All of that coupled with my high drug costs caused us to lose our home and file for bankruptcy.
This has had a devastating impact on our lives. Instead of having retirement savings, which we were on track to have before my illness, we are now living month to month on Social Security. I had to go back to work as a nurse at 67 years old in order to make ends meet.
If drug costs were more affordable, it would take such a financial burden off my family. My husband is now also ill, and unfortunately, his drugs are not covered by insurance and so he cannot take what is being recommended for him. All we want is access to our medication without having to bankrupt our family.
That being said, as a patient who is reliant on the services of Medicare and who would benefit from more affordable drug prices, I am strongly in favor of the proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers. This measure would change the lives of countless patients. Drug prices are out of control, and Medicare negotiation would help to remedy the plight we face.