MORGANTOWN — A Morgantown woman is appearing in a just-launched ad that’s part of a national campaign to lower prescription drug prices.
Mindy Salango is a Type 1 diabetes patient. In the ad, she said, insulin used to cost her $25 a month. Now that, plus all her supplies, costs her $350 a month. The ad concludes with this phrase running across the screen: “Give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices.”
The ad was created by Protect Our Care West Virginia and is part of the national organization’s seven-figure campaign, called The Campaign to Reduce Drug Prices, calling for comprehensive legislation to lower drug prices. The campaign’s website is https://reducedrugprices.com.
The ad — viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmhnrBiIwTE — is set to run on digital platforms, focusing particularly on older Americans. Protect Our Care said it will continue to run ads and host events nationally and in 13 key states, including West Virginia, throughout the summer.
Protect Our Care West Virginia State Director Lynette Maselli said during a press conference announcing the ad that they are focused on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, HR 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, and on urging the state’s D.C. delegation to vote for it.
Current law forbids the Department of Health and Human Services from negotiating drug prices for Medicare coverage and HR 3 would lift that ban. Its summary says, “HHS must negotiate maximum prices for single-source, brand-name drugs that lack certain generics and that are among either the 125 drugs that account for the greatest national spending or the 125 drugs that account for the greatest Medicare spending.
“HHS must negotiate the prices of at least 25 such drugs for 2024 and of at least 50 such drugs thereafter and must also negotiate prices for certain newly approved drugs and for insulin products. The negotiated prices must be offered under Medicare and may also be offered under private health insurance unless the insurer opts out.”
Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, said, “The next big frontier in health care is lowering prescription drug prices.” Americans pay three to four times more for prescriptions than patients in other countries.
“We are being ripped off by the pharmaceutical companies, because they have carte blanche to set the market,” he said. “It’s really a no-brainer. We should do this.”
He added that it could save hundreds of billions of dollars that could be reinvested in such things as expanded Medicare coverage for hearing, dental and vision.
Salango said during the press conference that she has health insurance and her $350 monthly cost is what’s left after coverage. But the alternative is skipping doses, which many people do to save money and cover other expenses, such as food and shelter.
But skipping doses, or stopping altogether, brings consequences, she said, such as potential loss of vision or loss of limbs. “It is terrifying. … We have no choice but to buy it; we have to. So they can charge us what they want. Are we serving the pharmaceutical companies or are we serving our people?”
Dr. Jessica Ice, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, said, “This is not a partisan issue. This is not a political issue. This is an issue for the people of America.”
In December 2019, The Dominion Post joined a group of Morgantown residents that included people with diabetes on a bus trip to Niagara Falls, Canada, where insulin prices are substantially lower. Then, during the 2020 legislative session, legislators passed a bill led by Del. Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, to cap insulin co-pays at $100.
During the 2021 session, companion state House and Senate bills to limit co-pays on non-insulin drugs for diabetics never made a committee agenda.
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