ICYMI: New Video Sets Record Straight On Big Pharma Propaganda — Lowering Out-Of-Pocket Costs Without Lowering Prices Won’t Save Patients Money

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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 the Principles For Drug Pricing Reform released today by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden:

“The principles released today lay a strong and thoughtful foundation for comprehensive reform of the U.S. drug pricing system, from lowering list prices set by drug corporations to reducing out-of-pocket costs for patients at the pharmacy counter. 

“We are very pleased to see the inclusion of Medicare negotiation as the first principle, extension of ‘drug pricing reforms that keep prices and patient costs in check’ beyond Medicare to all Americans, and provisions to spur and reward innovation. We applaud Chairman Wyden’s leadership and look forward to supporting and working with the committee to flesh out the details in legislation that will bring the principles to life and relief to millions of patients.”

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KANSAS — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Rep. Sharice Davids (KS-03) for supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for Kansans. The campaign includes digital ads as well as grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will contact Rep. Davids to thank her for fighting for patients. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched a campaign loaded with lies, pressuring Rep. Davids not to support H.R. 3.

“Big Pharma is trying to get Rep. Davids to bow to its power with lies and fear-mongering. But she is standing strong to win reforms that will lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Thanks to Rep. Davids’ leadership, we can pass H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”

The campaign launches with an ad highlighting patient advocate Marcus LaCour, who lives with type 1 diabetes. The ad will run on digital platforms in Kansas’ third district.

You can watch the ad here. 

“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15 years old. Because insulin is so expensive, I’ve had to skip and ration my doses. My wife has had to skip meals so that we could afford the insulin that I needed to survive,” LaCour, a Cincinnati husband, father, minister, and drug affordability advocate says in the video ad. “No family should have to make that decision. For millions of Americans, it’s serious enough that we need help.”

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 Kansas campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) for supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for Granite Staters. The campaign includes digital ads as well as grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will contact Rep. Pappas to thank him for fighting for patients. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched attack ads loaded with lies, pressuring Rep. Pappas not to support H.R. 3.

“Big Pharma is trying to get Rep. Pappas to bow to its power with lies and fear-mongering. But he is standing strong to win reforms that will lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Thanks to Rep. Pappas’s leadership, we can pass H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”
 
The campaign launches with an ad highlighting patient advocate Marcus LaCour, who lives with type 1 diabetes. The ad will run on digital platforms in New Hampshire’s first district.
 
You can watch the ad here.
 
“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15 years old. Because insulin is so expensive, I’ve had to skip and ration my doses. My wife has had to skip meals so that we could afford the insulin that I needed to survive,” LaCour, a Cincinnati husband, father, minister, and drug affordability advocate says in the video ad. “No family should have to make that decision. For millions of Americans, it’s serious enough that we need help.”
 
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 New Hampshire campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C.

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70 Percent Of House Democrats Urge Biden To Include Medicare Negotiation In American Families Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, commenting on the letter from more than 155 House Democrats today calling on the White House to deliver on campaign promises to lower drug prices through Medicare negotiation as part of the American Families Plan:

“Today the message from Congress is clear: Allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices must be a top priority this year. Over 155 members of Congress — 70 percent of the House Democratic Caucus — have now joined in calling on the president to make Medicare negotiation a part of the American Families Plan to bring relief to patients. Nine out of 10 Americans support Medicare negotiation, and momentum for its enactment is growing in Washington and across the country. We intend to help the president and supporters in Congress get it done this year.”

Background: 

• The letter — which is signed by 70 percent of the House Democratic Caucus, including moderates, progressives, and more than one dozen frontliners running in the most competitive districts across the country — calls on the White House to lower the price of prescription drugs by empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices for all Americans, saving more than $450 billion over the next decade.
• The president promised to lower drug prices:
  • “Let’s give Medicare the power to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower drug prescription prices,” President Biden said in his address to a joint session of Congress. “Let’s do it now.” 
  • The president re-affirmed his support for letting Medicare negotiate in his American Families Plan, which states, “President Biden has a plan to … lower prescription drug costs for everyone by letting Medicare negotiate prices.” 
• H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, is a Medicare negotiation bill that was reintroduced in April and would:
  • Allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and extend lower prices to all Americans with public or private sector insurance.
  • Limit the negotiated price of drugs in Medicare to no more than 120 percent of the average of six other OECD nations.
  • Limit annual out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries to no more than $2,000. 
  • End drug company price gouging by penalizing drug companies that increase prices in Medicare Parts B and D faster than the rate of inflation. 
  • Support innovation and new drug development by investing some of the expected savings into the world-class research supported by the National Institutes of Health.
• Patients support H.R. 3: 
  • Pro-reform forces, including AARP,  Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, and Protect Our Care, are mobilizing to meet the fury of Big Pharma opposition to Medicare negotiation head-on with thousands of letters and phone calls to members of Congress and millions of dollars in ads to support congressional allies.
• With Medicare negotiation, patients will pay less for their prescriptions and lives will be saved. 
  • Right now, more than 1.1 million Medicare patients could die over the next decade because they cannot afford to pay for their prescriptions. 
  • If Medicare were empowered to directly negotiate prices with drug companies, there could be 94,000 fewer deaths annually.
• Medicare negotiation is overwhelmingly popular — Americans want reform. 
  • Nine out of 10 Americans back Medicare negotiation, including 97 percent of Democrats, 87 percent of independents, and 84 percent of Republicans. 
  • Lowering the cost of prescription drugs and health care far outpolls even infrastructure investments as a priority for Americans.
  • Nearly 90 percent of small business owners say that drug costs are too high. Medicare negotiation would save employers $195 billion and employees $61 billion from 2023 to 2029.
  • Americans don’t buy Big Pharma’s main argument that lowering prices will stifle innovation, even when asked within the context of new vaccines.

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MAINE — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) for supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for Mainers. The campaign includes digital ads and grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will contact Rep. Golden to thank him for fighting for patients. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched attack ads loaded with lies, pressuring Rep. Golden not to support H.R. 3.

“Big Pharma is trying to get Rep. Golden to bow to its power with lies and fear-mongering. But he is standing strong to win reforms that will lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Thanks to Rep. Golden’s leadership, we can pass H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”

The campaign launches with an ad highlighting patient advocate Marcus LaCour, who lives with type 1 diabetes. The ad will run on digital platforms in Maine’s second district.

You can watch the ad here.

“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15 years old. Because insulin is so expensive, I’ve had to skip and ration my doses. My wife has had to skip meals so that we could afford the insulin that I needed to survive,” LaCour, a Cincinnati husband, father, minister, and drug affordability advocate says in the video ad. “No family should have to make that decision. For millions of Americans, it’s serious enough that we need help.”

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 Maine campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C.

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CALIFORNIA — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Reps. Josh Harder (CA-10) and Mike Levin (CA-49) for supporting Medicare negotiation, and calling on Reps. Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Lou Correa (CA-46), Scott Peters (CA-52), and Sara Jacobs (CA-53) 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 Californians. The campaign includes digital ads as well as grassroots advocacy for constituents to contact the members in support of H.R. 3. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched ads loaded with lies, attacking members for supporting the bill.

“Californians need Reps. Cárdenas, Correa, Peters, and Jacobs to follow Reps. Harder and Levin’s lead and push for passage of H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “The choice is clear: You either stand with patients for lower prices or with pharma for higher prices. We need lower drug prices now.” 

Digital ads will run in CA-10 and CA-49 thanking Reps. Harder and Levin for supporting Medicare negotiation. Digital ads will run in CA-29, CA-46, CA-52, and CA-53, urging Reps. Cárdenas, Correa, Peters, and Jacobs to stand with patients and push for passage of H.R. 3. 

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. 

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GEORGIA — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07) for supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for Georgians. The campaign includes TV and digital ads as well as grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will contact Rep. Bourdeaux to thank her for fighting for patients. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched attack ads loaded with lies, pressuring Rep. Bourdeaux not to support H.R. 3.

“Big Pharma is trying to get Rep. Bourdeaux to bow to its power with lies and fear-mongering. But she is standing strong to win reforms that will lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Thanks to Rep. Bourdeaux’s leadership, we can pass H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”
 
The campaign includes an ad highlighting patient advocate Marcus LaCour, who lives with type 1 diabetes. The ad will run on a combination of TV and digital platforms in Georgia’s seventh district.
 
You can watch the ad here.
 
“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15 years old. Because insulin is so expensive, I’ve had to skip and ration my doses. My wife has had to skip meals so that we could afford the insulin that I needed to survive,” LaCour, a Cincinnati husband, father, minister, and drug affordability advocate says in the video ad. “No family should have to make that decision. For millions of Americans, it’s serious enough that we need help.”
 
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 Georgia campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C.

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