WASHINGTON — As millions of Americans demand lower drug prices, momentum continues to build for policy changes out of the House and Senate. Three House committees voted to advance HR 3, two Republican senators announced their strong support for the Senate Finance Package, and patients spoke up in a multi-million dollar ad campaign urging Washington to rein in skyrocketing drug prices without delay.
“The past week demonstrates that the power of millions of Americans demanding lower drug prices can overcome Big Pharma’s false claims and fear mongering,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Americans are done listening to pharma’s tired lies and are pushing their elected officials to act immediately.”
In the past week, America has witnessed:
Polling shows Americans say lowering drug prices should be Congress’s top priority among all health issues. Almost 90 percent of Americans support allowing the government to negotiate directly with drug corporations. Four out of five Americans blame high drug company profits for high prices. Three out of four Americans don’t trust drug companies to price their products fairly.
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1. Let. Medicare. Negotiate. Already.
2. Let’s Get the Job Done
3. No Upper Limit
4. Survey Says:
5. Transparency in Action!
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to votes in the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the House Education & Labor Committee to advance H.R. 3, a bill that would lower drug prices for all insured Americans through negotiations, Ben Wakana, the executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
“A long day of hard work on drug pricing on Capitol Hill produced a good outcome for patients. H.R. 3 cleared two key House committees, and the public heard from a patient and experts during a robust debate in the Ways & Means Committee. Now is the time to press on and advance this bill into law. Patients are waiting, and we are watching.”
BACKGROUND:
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers have a window to make history and lower drug prices, and a new Patients For Affordable Drugs Now campaign will urge Congress and the White House to seize the moment and act now. The multi-million dollar campaign will include TV, digital, and radio ads across the country featuring patients who support proposals in the House and Senate to rein in skyrocketing 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 their profits high and patients’ costs skyrocketing.
Watch the videos, “Jackie” and “Gail.”
“Americans are being crushed by high drug prices, and we want to send a message to the White House and Congress: Big Pharma is spreading scare tactics and lies,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Legislation to lower drug prices must move now. If lawmakers side with Big Pharma instead of patients, they’ll pay in votes.”
Today’s campaign includes support for the:
As part of the campaign, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now will release television, radio, and digital advertisements that show the toll high prescription drug prices are taking on everyday Americans, offer a suite of tools that encourage Americans to contact their elected officials in support of lowering drug prices, and share stories of patients suffering under prescription drug prices on social media.
The campaign will launch on Thursday with a national cable TV and radio ad. It will expand to local TV, digital, and radio ads in targeted Senate and House districts over the upcoming weeks.
Americans overwhelmingly support action to lower drug prices. Eighty-six percent of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate. Americans pay twice as much for prescription drugs as other nations, and nearly 1 in 3 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed due to cost.
Big Pharma is lobbying furiously to protect its profits, but Congress and the White House need to listen to patients.
This campaign comes on the heels of a campaign in August encouraging the Senate to enact the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019. That campaign thanked members for supporting reforms and held accountable those who opposed them.
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If the Nats can make the NLCS without Bryce Harper, surely Washington can pass drug pricing reform by the end of the year.
1. Patients Win in California!
2. Big Price Increases, Because ?♂️
3. Patient Groups Paid Off
4. Raising Her Voice
5. Bye, Felicia
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Patients applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom today after he signed a first-in-the-nation law that will stop Big Pharma from cutting deals that block less-expensive generic drugs for state residents — a tactic that limits patient choice and costs taxpayers billions each year.
“Californians are done with Big Pharma’s shadowy pay-for-delay deals that block cheaper generic drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We are so glad Governor Gavin Newsom and the state assembly heard patient voices and turned AB 824 into law. We hope state legislatures across the country next year take up California’s pioneering approach to stop deals that hurt patients, and we applaud the efforts of Assemblymember Jim Wood and Attorney General Xavier Becerra for spearheading the successful effort.”
Leading up to the law’s passage, Californians wrote hundreds of letters in support of Assembly Bill 824.
Campaigner Cynthia Stockton, 73, a Sacramento retiree who lives with a seizure disorder, a brain tumor, and is a paraplegic, has been forced to ration food to pay for her medicine. Stockton advocated for Californians by supporting AB824 on social media and in a Sacramento Bee op-ed and editorial.
“They (pharma) just pay the companies off and keep these big-dollar prescriptions going so that generics are not made available,” she told the Bee. “And that made me mad because it’s like mafia control…so I started speaking up.”
In support of the measure, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, a Washington, DC-based patient advocacy organization that takes no money from the pharmaceutical industry, ran a 5-figure campaign, including digital ads to give Californians tools to contact their representatives in support of the legislation through letter writing and phone campaigns.
The new law will:
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Slow news week.
1. Fear-mongering: Activate!
2. Four Times More
3. Black Market Insulin
4. Myth Busted
5. ?? imports?
Patients hit by skyrocketing drug prices are speaking out in favor of Medicare negotiation in response to a plan in the House of Representatives that would lower drug costs for Americans through negotiations with drug corporations.
“People are skipping doses, cutting pills in half, choosing between food and paying for their drugs. People are dying because they can’t afford their insulin,” David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now will tell the the Education & Labor Subcommittee on Health today during a 2 p.m. hearing.
With drug prices continuing to skyrocket unchecked, three patients shared the impact of the status quo:
Sue Lee, Crewstood, KY, lives with plaque psoriasis: “I have been forced to stop taking Humira after learning the treatment would cost me over $8,000 a year out-of-pocket. I don’t have too large of a savings account and I live off of the fixed income provided to me by Social Security. I can’t afford to pay for Humira under any circumstances.”
Ruth Rinehart, Tampa, FL, lives with primary immune deficiency: “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.”
Bob Keller, Parsippany, NJ, lives with type 1 diabetes: “I wish that my wife could retire and we could move to Medicare, but because of the high cost of medication, that simply isn’t an option. I believe that Medicare should be able to negotiate lower drug prices for their beneficiaries. If they were to negotiate down the cost of my medication, my wife and I would enjoy a higher quality of life.”
Eighty-six percent of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. But under current law, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating directly with drug companies on behalf of taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries.
Nearly 1 in 3 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost. One in four have difficulty affording their medications.
Medicare negotiation would level the playing field for patients and taxpayers and lower the price of prescription drugs.
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