North Carolina is experiencing a serious uptick in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. We have heard from our leaders like Governor Cooper and DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen that we must remain vigilant despite the warmer temperatures and summer get togethers that everyone is eager to have. We are lucky to have Governor Cooper and Secretary Cohen who believe and trust in science and facts. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our President and many of our Congressional leaders.
Over the past 18 months we've seen tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon receive harsh criticisms for a myriad of ways their business practices harm consumers, competitors, and workers. We've seen Mark Zuckerberg testify in front of Congressional committees and heard pundits lament the bad behavior of big tech. Despite the consistent negative media attention directed at these mega companies, there has not been any significant punishment to encourage them to change their ways.
After a couple of explosive weeks of impeachment hearings, it's hard to wrap your mind around anything else going on in Washington, but there's still plenty going on in Congress that needs our attention.
Speaker Pelosi's "Lower Drug Costs Now Act" is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks. We can all agree that the cost of prescription drugs is something that must be addressed by Congress. We need our elected leaders to find work together on healthcare reform, but there's a significant part of this bill that could risk patient access to care in a substantial way.
The International Pricing Index (IPI) piece included in Speaker Pelosi's Lower Drug Costs Now Act may seem like the perfect solution to bringing down the price of expensive prescription drugs, but there are some real problems with this model. IPI can potentially hurt the most vulnerable and sick patients when they're at their worst, and take away their ability to get access to treatments. The model would base the price the US pays for prescription drugs off of what six other countries pay.
While our representatives in Washington debate the nuances of broader healthcare policy, uninsured Americans are still turning to local hospitals to access basic care, and these hospitals are still on the hook for covering those costs. But if Congress doesn’t act immediately, funding for the program that helps keep these hospitals open will lapse, affecting dozens of hospitals across North Carolina and the thousands of people who rely on them.
While the Mueller Report continues to make headlines and Trump continues his paranoid tweet tirade in denial, the Democratic majority in the U.S. House is hard at work trying to protect health care for all Americans. On a press call yesterday, Rep. Alma Adams detailed Democrats’ efforts to end Trump and Republican sabotage of the Affordable Care Act and deliver affordable, improved health care to all Americans.
Today, Protect Our Care North Carolina and health care advocates from across the state joined Indivisible chapter Tuesdays with Tillis to call on Senator Thom Tillis to stand up to Donald Trump’s repeated efforts to repeal and sabotage the Affordable Care Act.
As the anniversary of the passage Affordable Care Act approaches on Saturday, advocates from across North Carolina urged lawmakers to stand with them and protect their care against partisan repeal and sabotage efforts at a press conference at the General Assembly.
In 2017, Senator Thom Tillis claimed that he supported keeping protections for pre-existing conditions, but last week he voted to give a lifetime appointment to a judge that led the effort to eliminate protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions.
This week, Protect Our Care unveiled their health care agenda for the new Congress. The agenda is detailed in a new report, which calls for bold Congressional action to defend the Affordable Care Act against Republican attacks, strengthen Medicaid and Medicare, lower costs, and enact further protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions.
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