By BEN JEALOUS
If enacted, H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Prices Now Act, would, for the first time, give the government the power to negotiate lower drug prices for millions of patients enrolled in Medicare, and millions more with private insurance. The stakes are huge: Not only would this save Medicare $500 billion over the next decade, these savings would be used to expand benefits to include dental, vision and hearing coverage and help low-income seniors pay out-of-pocket costs.
By ROBIN TANNER
My mother is one of the 7.4 million Americans who depend on insulin to manage their diabetes.
With insulin prices nearly doubling from 2012 to 2016, my family and millions of others have been forced to cut corners to afford their life-saving medication, all while drug corporations have raked in billions in profits, including two companies based right here in our state.
BY SARA EWING-MERRILLSPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD
People who take insulin are among those hardest hit by spiraling expenses. A new medication pricing bill would help them.
Americans agree that prescription drug prices are too high. Countless individuals and families across the country are grappling with impossible choices between buying the medication they need to stay healthy and paying the bills. And with no prescription is that truer than insulin.
BY MITCH LENETT
Amid the ongoing health care debate in Washington, the House of Representatives will soon consider game-changing legislation that would provide relief to the American public from the high costs of prescription drugs.
BY MARTY HENDERSON, PATRICK CAROLAN
In the United States, 30.3 million people live with diabetes. One in four of those people — about 7.5 million people — is forced to ration insulin because of the high price of this life-saving drug. Proverbs 15:27 tells us: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house.”
No one should die because they have been priced out of purchasing a lifesaving medicine that costs no more than $6.16 to produce. It costs about as much to produce a vial of insulin as it does to get an ice cream cone, so we must ask: How does insulin end up costing people with diabetes $350 per vial?
By BENJAMIN DUONG AND LORRAINE TULIANO
As people age, they need more prescription drugs to address chronic and age-related health issues at a time when their household income and resources are declining. This issue is especially critical in Florida, which leads the nation in aging seniors, with 20% of the population being 65 or older as of 2017. With no limit on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare drugs, millions of seniors are struggling, forced to make tough choices between paying for prescriptions or for basic needs like food and housing.
BY JENNIFER BUTLER
As a pastor, I am deeply invested in the health and well being of my community. Every day, I pray for God to heal those who are sick, and to move our elected leaders to pass policies that end needless suffering.
In the Christian Bible, the Book of James teaches that faith without works is dead. Our religion exhorts us to take meaningful steps to heal the world even as we rely on God’s grace for our ultimate salvation. In politics, lip service without action is meaningless too.
