“No More Excuses. Let Medicare Negotiate. Now.”
| WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a new video featuring patients from across the country demanding that Congress follow through on promises to lower drug prices by passing the reforms in the Build Back Better Act. The two-minute video, titled “Patient Voices From Across America: A Message To Congress,” features 11 patient advocates who explain the personal impact of high drug prices and why Congress must move forward with the drug pricing reforms that will deliver relief to patients like them. “Now Congress is finally poised to let Medicare negotiate,” Kris, a patient from Denver who lives with four bleeding disorders, including hemophilia, says in the video. “It’s the most popular feature of the Build Back Better Act. More than 80 percent of Americans support it,” Marcus, from Cincinnati, who lives with type 1 diabetes, continues. Therese, from Ogden Dunes, Indiana, who lives with multiple sclerosis, adds, “We need Congress to finally stand up to the big drug companies and get it done.” Jacquie, from Waterloo, Iowa, who lives with Crohn’s disease, concludes, “We’ve never been closer. Don’t let this moment slip away.” The drug price provisions currently under consideration by the Senate will, for the first time, authorize Medicare to negotiate prices directly for some of the most expensive prescription medicines, including insulin; institute a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries and on insulin copays for millions of patients; and limit annual drug price increases to stop price gouging by drug corporations. The final image of the video reads, “Stop Price Gouging. Lower Out-Of-Pocket. Let Medicare Negotiate. Now.” P4ADNow started off the year by releasing two ads, one in Washington, D.C., and one in West Virginia, calling on members of Congress to pass a reconciliation package including the already negotiated drug pricing reforms from the Build Back Better Act. P4ADNow also sent a joint letter with AARP emphasizing that the Senate must pass the landmark drug pricing reforms. A new report from P4AD takes a closer look at the drug industry’s price hikes and its impact on patients, underscoring the urgent need for Congress to act. Read the video transcript below and watch the full video here. Patients are available to speak with press upon request. |
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| TRANSCRIPT: Eighteen years ago, pharma won a sweetheart deal that prohibits Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. – Jacquie Persson As a result, we’re paying almost four times what other nations pay for the same brand-name drugs. – Kami Guiden I’ve had to ration my drugs and go without because the price is so high. No American should have to do that. – Iesha Meza Now Congress is finally poised to let Medicare negotiate, but the only way to pass it is with 50 votes through reconciliation. – Kris Garcia We’re so close. – Clayton McCook It’s the most popular feature of the Build Back Better Act. More than 80 percent of Americans support it. – Marcus LaCour Any reconciliation deal must include it. – Kris Garcia Lily will need insulin for the rest of her life. We need the reforms in Build Back Better to cap insulin copays for millions of people with diabetes. – Clayton McCook I’m on Medicare, and capping out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 will help me and millions of other patients. – Maureen Iten Pharma jacks up prices every year. Limiting price increases to the rate of inflation would really help me. – Meg Jackson-Drage Congress has talked and talked. Now’s the time to get it done. – Lauren Stanford The votes are there. It can happen. The only thing in the way is opposition from Big Pharma. – Sheldon Armus We need Congress to finally stand up to the big drug companies and get it done. – Therese Ball Drug price reform must be included in any reconciliation package. – Iesha Meza No more excuses. – Maureen Iten No more political games. – Clayton McCook Stop price gouging, lower out-of-pocket, and let Medicare negotiate. – Kami Guiden We’ve never been closer. Don’t let this moment slip away. – Jacquie Persson |
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TV Ad Features Three Patient Advocates: “Americans Can’t Wait Any Longer”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new video ad today calling on Congress to include the previously negotiated reforms that lower drug prices in any final reconciliation package. The 30-second video ad is running in Washington, D.C., and features three patient advocates: Therese Ball of Indiana, Kris Garcia of Colorado, and Iesha Meza of Arizona. In addition, the campaign includes digital static ads in D.C. as well as grassroots advocacy in key states, where patients call their senators and ask for their support on the current drug price provisions.
The video ad opens with Therese, who lives with multiple sclerosis. “The medications I need to live are priced at over $7,000 every month,” she says. “Millions of Americans can’t afford the medicines they need to survive,” continues Iesha, who lives with type 1 diabetes and depends on insulin. Kris, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders, including hemophilia, adds, “Congress needs to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for us.”
“The landmark drug price provisions negotiated painstakingly over several months and included in the Build Back Better plan remain the top priority for Americans and are overwhelmingly supported by more than 80 percent of voters – 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. “This legislation will save lives, lower prices, and fight inflation by holding the line on premiums and health care costs for patients, employers, employees, and taxpayers. Failure is not an option – we need Congress to pass these historic reforms in any reconciliation package that is finally agreed to.”
The ads launch as the Senate reconvenes to continue negotiations around the reconciliation package. The drug price provisions under consideration will, for the first time, authorize Medicare to negotiate prices directly for some of the most expensive prescription medicines, including insulin; institute a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries; and limit annual price increases to stop price gouging by drug corporations.
“Any reconciliation package must include reforms that lower drug prices,” the video ad concludes. “Americans can’t wait any longer.”
Watch the full ad here and view the digital ads below.
P4ADNow also launched a new radio ad today in West Virginia calling on Senator Manchin to support the reconciliation package to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. All recent P4ADNow ads can be found here.
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“We Need Senator Manchin’s Support. His Vote Will Make The Difference For West Virginians. Please, Senator Manchin, Don’t Let This Moment Slip Away”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new radio ad today as part of its ongoing campaign in West Virginia. The ad highlights Senator Joe Manchin’s opportunity to deliver on his strong support for Medicare negotiation to lower drug prices for West Virginians by swiftly passing a reconciliation package that includes strong drug price reforms. The campaign includes a new 60-second radio ad and grassroots advocacy, in which patients call the senator directly thanking him for supporting Medicare negotiation and asking him to support the reconciliation package, including the current provisions that will lower drug prices for West Virginians.
“Patients have been waiting nearly 20 years for Medicare to be allowed to negotiate lower prices on their behalf. Right now, we are closer than we have ever been to closing a deal that would be historic in lowering drug prices for West Virginians and all Americans,” 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. “Big Pharma is doing everything in its power to block this from happening, and we need Senator Manchin’s support for a reconciliation package that includes provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate. Patients have waited too long; we can’t let this moment slip away.”
The ad launches as the Senate reconvenes and continues negotiations around the reconciliation package. The drug price provisions under consideration will, for the first time, authorize Medicare to negotiate prices directly for some of the most expensive prescription medicines, including insulin; institute a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries; and limit annual price increases to stop price gouging by drug corporations.
“It makes no sense at all that we don’t go out and negotiate. The VA does a tremendous job. Medicaid does it. Why doesn’t Medicare?” Senator Manchin says in the radio ad. The voiceover adds, “We’ve never been so close. The plan in Congress could pass right now. But we need Senator Manchin’s support. His vote will make the difference for West Virginians. Please, Senator Manchin, don’t let this moment slip away.”
Listen to the full radio ad here.
P4ADNow also released a new TV ad today in Washington, D.C., demanding that Congress include the previously negotiated reforms that lower drug prices in any final reconciliation package. All of P4ADNow’s recent ads can be viewed here.
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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, following the announcement that Congress will not pass Build Back Better this year:
“We are very disappointed that Congress will not pass reforms to lower drug prices before the end of the year. As Democrats in Congress consider how to move forward on a reconciliation package, however, the provisions painstakingly negotiated to lower drug prices must be maintained.
“The drug price provisions in the current Build Back Better package are the top priority for Americans – overwhelmingly supported by more than 80 percent of voters – Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. By allowing negotiations, capping price increases at the rate of inflation, and limiting out-of-pocket costs for seniors and people who are insulin-dependent, the historic reforms will make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients and all Americans. These reforms will also protect innovation by maintaining our current system in which drug companies will be able to set prices on new drugs and be rewarded with a period of exclusivity lasting five to 12 years. Further, they will be exempt from negotiations for nine to 13 years.
“Importantly, the drug provisions will fight inflation by holding the line on premiums and health care costs for employers, employees, and taxpayers. These provisions will actually produce a net savings for the government instead of contributing to the deficit.
“Medicare negotiation to lower prescription drug prices passed the House and enjoys the support of all 50 Democratic senators. We hope to work with members in both chambers of Congress to finish the job and pass these landmark reforms swiftly in the new year. We have never been as close as we are now. Failure is not an option.”
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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 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 ad urging 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 campaign contributors 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.” Watch the ad here. 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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