February 2024

Watch the Full Event Here.

Washington, DC — Today, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure joined Protect Our Care and the NAACP, in partnership with NAACP’s Howard University Chapter, the Howard University Graduate Student Assembly, and the Howard University Graduate Student Council, to discuss improving health outcomes for Black Americans. 

President Biden appointed Administrator Brooks-LaSure as the first African American to lead CMS. Under her leadership, the agency has built on the success of the Affordable Care Act and implemented the Inflation Reduction Act to make health insurance and prescription drugs more affordable for millions of Black families. 

Historically, Black Americans have faced barriers to achieving and maintaining optimal health. More than 65 percent of uninsured Black adults have become eligible for zero-dollar premium plans through enhanced premium savings. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates these increased savings will cause a sharp decline in the uninsured rate across every racial group, with a projected one in three uninsured Black adults gaining coverage. For people who have historically been marginalized and faced difficulty receiving the care they need, Black Americans in particular, these lower costs are translating to better access to care. Additionally, the Biden-Harris Administration is fighting the maternal health crisis by expanding Medicaid coverage for new mothers to one year postpartum, awarding millions of dollars to create a maternal mental health task force and other programs. Read our report on how the Inflation Reduction Act is helping Black Americans here. 

“The Biden-Harris Administration has and will continue to prioritize making health care coverage affordable,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, CMS Administrator. “President Biden and Vice President Harris took the baton that President Obama handed to them, and this Administration continues to transform health care to change millions of people’s lives for the better. We’ve expanded coverage. We’ve expanded the number of Black and Brown people enrolled. What we seek for our country is for everyone eligible to be enrolled in one of CMS’ programs and for insurance not just to be a card in their pocket, but to mean that they have access to the care they need.”

“The fight to protect and advance the health of Black Americans is at the forefront of our mandate to improve Black lives,” said Dr. Chris T. Pernell, Director of the Center for Health Equity at the NAACP “The Inflation Reduction Act is a necessary tool to beat back the barriers to access to care and the cost of prescription drugs especially. Assuring optimal health for all communities, particularly those who have been saddled with higher rates of chronic disease and staggering costs, is exactly where the Biden-Harris Administration should be focused. This is what equity in action looks like – saving lives, preventing disease, and controlling costs.”

“Health care and eliminating inequities in health care is so important,” said Brad Woodhouse, Executive Director of Protect Our Care. “That is why we must have people at the wheel who want to drive in the right direction – getting affordable health care to every American. CMS led by Administrator Brooks-LaSure is getting the job done. It’s so important that Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration continue this historic work to preserve and expand health care.”

“In almost every indicator in which we measure health, Black Americans are lagging,” said Joi Chaney, Senior Health Equity Advisor at Protect Our Care. “But it’s not just about closing gaps, it’s also about making sure Black Americans can have a healthy life. Protect Our Care is dedicated to making high-quality, affordable, and equitable health care a right and not a privilege for everyone in America. The Biden-Harris Administration is doing the same – overcoming political opposition and obstruction to fight to close health disparities and improve health outcomes for Black Americans.”

 ***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TUESDAY, MARCH 12 AT 9:00 AM***

Washington, D.C. — On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 9 AM ET, Protect Our Care will be joined by Former Solicitor General of the United States Don Verrilli and leading legal, economic, and health experts for an in-depth discussion of three key legal battles that threaten Americans’ health care. This event is designed to provide timely and relevant information of use to congressional staff, health care advocates and providers, journalists, and other interested parties.  

Ultra-conservative groups and big drug companies are suing to block Americans’ access to quality, affordable health care. Ongoing litigation threatens to repeal the Affordable Care Act requirement that insurers cover preventive services without cost sharing, to block Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices, and to throw our drug approval system into chaos by overturning the FDA’s approvals of mifepristone. 

Panel conversations will focus on the following cases:

• Threats to Preventive Care (Braidwood v. Becerra)
  This panel will explore the health care at risk if the ACA’s free preventive services requirement is struck down as this case makes its way through the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and beyond.
• Threats to Lower Prescription Drug Costs
  This panel will explore the cases seeking to overturn the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, putting lower prescription drug costs at risk for seniors, and the broader implications it has for lowering drug costs for all Americans.
• Threats to Reproductive Health Care and the Drug Approval System (Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA)
  This panel will explore the implications of opening the door for the politically motivated destruction of the FDA’s drug approval process as the Supreme Court prepares to hear the case seeking to ban mifepristone.

EVENT:

WHO:
Emcee: Leslie Dach, Chair, Protect Our Care
Keynote Speaker: Don Verrilli, former Solicitor General of the United States

Threats to Preventive Care Panelists:
Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association
Gretchen Borchelt, Vice President for Reproductive Rights and Health, National Women’s Law Center
Andrew Pincus, Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and experienced Supreme Court and appellate lawyer
Mary Rouvelas, Managing Counsel and Legal Advocacy Director, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Moderator: Joi Chaney, Policy and Health Equity Senior Advisor, Protect Our Care

Threats to Lower Prescription Drug Costs Panelists:
Gerard Anderson, Professor of health policy and management, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Zachary Baron, Director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative, O’Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law
Christine Petrin, Board Chair, Doctors for America
Moderator: Andrea Harris, Director of Policy Programs, Protect Our Care

Threats to Reproductive Health Care and the Drug Approval System Panelists:
Carrie Flaxman, Senior Advisor, Democracy Forward
Jocelyn Frye, President, National Partnership for Women & Families
William Schultz, Partner, Zuckerman Spaeder, former General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services
Moderator: Yvette Fontenot, Policy and Legislative Affairs Senior Advisor, Protect Our Care

WHAT: Conference with Q&A

WHERE: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, SVC 215, First St SE, Washington, DC 20515 or Virtual

WHEN: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 9 AM – 12 PM ET, Doors will open at 8:30 AM

RSVP: RSVP Here

 ***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29 AT 11:30 AM***

Event Will Underscore How the Biden-Harris Administration Is Leading the Charge in Prioritizing Health Care and Good Health Outcomes for Black Americans

Washington, D.C. — On February 29, 2024 at 11:30 AM, Protect Our Care and NAACP, in partnership with NAACP’s Howard University Chapter, the Howard University Graduate Student Assembly, and the Howard University Graduate Student Council is hosting a fireside chat with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on improving health outcomes for Black Americans. 

Appointed by President Biden, Administrator Brooks-LaSure is the first African American to lead the Agency. CMS manages Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and other key programs, making it the largest provider of health coverage in the United States. Under her leadership, the agency has built on the success of the Affordable Care Act and implemented the Inflation Reduction Act to make health insurance and prescription drugs more affordable for millions of Black families. Through enhanced premium savings, more than 65 percent of uninsured Black adults have become eligible for zero-dollar premium plans. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates these increased savings will cause a sharp decline in the uninsured rate across every racial group, with a projected one in three uninsured Black adults gaining coverage. Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration is fighting the maternal health crisis by expanding Medicaid coverage for new mothers to one year postpartum, awarding millions of dollars to create a maternal mental health task force, and other programs.

This event presents an opportunity to learn more about efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration to protect the health of Black Americans and address racial health disparities for Black Americans at every stage of their lives. 

EVENT:

WHO:
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Joi Chaney, Senior Health Equity Advisor, Protect Our Care
Leslie Dach, Chair, Protect Our Care
Andrea Hayes Dixon M.D., FACS, FAAO, Dean and Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Howard University, College of Medicine
Jasmine Rivera, President, NAACP Howard University Chapter

WHAT: Event and Media Availability

WHERE: Howard University College of Medicine, Auditorium on 3rd Floor, 520 W St NW, Washington, D.C. 

WHEN: Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 11:30 AM

RSVP: Media should RSVP to [email protected]. Students and members of the public should RSVP via https://www.protectourcare.org/howard/

Thanks to President Biden and Democrats in Congress, Medicare is currently negotiating lower prices for the costliest prescription drugs. Lower prices for the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation will take effect in 2026, and by 2030, up to 80 drugs will have lower negotiated prices. A new report by the Center for American Progress estimated prices for the drugs currently undergoing price negotiations with Medicare, finding price reductions will be as high as nearly $80,000 for some drugs. Even as they make billions of dollars in revenue, big drug companies are suing in court to protect their sky-high profits by blocking the Medicare negotiation program so they can continue to charge patients unaffordable prices. Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to repeal not only the negotiation program, but also the new $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on Medicare prescription drug costs, which takes effect in 2025. 

Estimated Savings For Patients Taking The First 10 Drugs Subject to Medicare Negotiation

• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Eliquis by approximately $1,488. More than 3.5 million Medicare Part D patients take the blood clot drug produced by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, which charge U.S. patients 3–7 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Australia. The companies have spent a combined $101 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors and have reported a combined $106 billion in sales from Eliquis since launching the drug.
  
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Enbrel by approximately $30,912. Nearly 50,000 Medicare Part D patients take the rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis drug produced by Amgen, which charges U.S. patients 4–13 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Japan. Amgen paid its CEO over $21 million last year and has spent $89 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported over $84 billion in sales from Enbrel.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Entresto by approximately $3,444. 521,000 Medicare Part D patients take the heart failure drug produced by Novartis, which charges U.S. patients 3–9.5 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Japan. Novartis gave its CEO a 21 percent raise last year and has spent over $44 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported over $20 billion in sales from Entresto.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Farxiga by approximately $1,992. Nearly 640,000 Medicare Part D patients take the diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease drug produced by AstraZeneca, which charges U.S. patients 7–15 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Australia. AstraZeneca paid its CEO over $21 million last year, making him the highest-paid pharma CEO in Europe, and has spent nearly $35 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported nearly $21 billion in sales from Farxiga.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Fiasp/NovoLog by approximately $360. 763,000 Medicare Part D patients take the diabetes drug produced by Novo Nordisk, which charges U.S. patients 7–17.5 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Australia. Novo Nordisk gave its CEO a 13 percent raise (around $10 million) last year and has spent $36 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported nearly $44 billion in sales from Fiasp/NovoLog formulations.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Imbruvica by approximately $78,576. Over 20,000 Medicare Part D patients take the blood cancer drug produced by AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson, which charge U.S. patients 1.5–5 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and Australia. The companies have spent a combined $91.2 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors and have reported a combined $58.5 billion in sales from Imbruvica since launching the drug.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Januvia by approximately $1,644. 885,000 Medicare Part D patients take the type 2 diabetes drug produced by Merck, which charges U.S. patients 5–20 times more than patients in other high income countries like Canada and Germany. Merck paid its CEO $52 million in total compensation in 2022 and has spent nearly $53 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported over $53 billion in sales from Januvia.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Jardiance by approximately $1,836. More than 1.3 million Medicare Part D patients take the type 2 diabetes drug produced by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, which charge U.S. patients 6–14 times more than patients in other high income countries like Switzerland and France. The companies have spent a combined $12.6 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors and have reported a combined $32.4 billion in sales from Jardiance since launching the drug.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Stelara by approximately $13,824. 20,000 Medicare Part D patients take the psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis drug produced by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson charges U.S. patients 2–7.5 times more than patients in other high income countries like Germany and Australia. Johnson & Johnson paid its CEO over $13 million in 2022 and has spent $78.2 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors since launching the drug. The company has reported over $64 billion in sales from Stelara.
• Medicare negotiation will cut the price of an annual supply of Xarelto by approximately $1,416. More than 1.3 million Medicare Part D patients take the blood clot drug produced by Johnson & Johnson and Bayer, which charge U.S. patients 3–8 times more than patients in other high income countries like Japan and Australia. The companies have spent a combined $54.8 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors and have reported a combined $64.3 billion in sales from Xarelto since launching the drug.

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 12:30PM PT// 3:30 PM EST***

The Inflation Reduction Act gave Medicare power to negotiate drug prices for the first time  

Los Angeles, CA – Dr. Meena Seshamani, MD, Ph.D., Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Director of the Center for Medicare, will join Protect Our Care California and local seniors and advocates to discuss how Medicare negotiations will lower prescription drug costs for seniors in California. The Biden administration recently announced the next phase of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program, a step which will lower prices for some of the highest-cost prescription drugs that seniors rely on to treat conditions like cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders – conditions that disproportionately impact women, communities of color, and people in rural areas. Speakers will explain what this means for seniors in California and how lowering the cost of health care and prescription drugs remain central to the Inflation Reduction Act’s popularity, and the importance of protecting these policies. 

Speakers will also highlight all of the new cost-saving benefits for seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act, including: 

• Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices 
• A $35 monthly copay cap on insulin 
• Free shingles and other essential vaccinations
• $2,000 out-of-pocket caps on prescription drugs beginning in 2025

This event comes as drug companies and their allies are trying to derail health care policies that will bring down costs. Pharmaceutical companies are suing the federal government to protect their massive profits by halting the Medicare negotiation provision while their Congressional allies are attempting to repeal it. President Biden and his administration are already working to expand these cost savings to more Americans, and hold Big Pharma accountable. If opponents of the Affordable Care Act get their way, they would throw millions of people off of Medicaid, keep drug costs high for seniors, and make health care coverage more expensive for families purchasing coverage on their own through the Affordable Care Act. 

WHO: Dr. Meena Seshamani, MD, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Medicare
U.S. Representative Judy Chu
Dr. Jerry Abraham
Representative from California Alliance for Retired Americans
Nicole Serrano, Protect Our Care California

WHEN: Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 12:30 PM PT // 3:30 PM EST

WHERE: Plummer Park Community Center, Art Room 2, 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046

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New KFF polling released today finds that health care is top of mind headed into the 2024 election. ACA popularity remains high at nearly 60 percent. At the same time, 50 percent of voters, including the majority of independents, support Democrats’ plans to expand the ACA. The new polling comes as Trump has doubled down on his threats to repeal the health care law, which would throw people off their coverage, drive up costs, and rip away protections for pre-existing conditions. Read key findings from KFF below: 

Health Care Affordability Remains Top Issue Headed Into November. “Inflation and health care affordability continue to be the top issues voters want the 2024 presidential candidates to talk about on the campaign trail, and while national news has recently emphasized an improving national economy alongside expanded consumer spending, most voters (67%) rate the national economy as ‘not so good’ or ‘poor.’ Voters’ assessment of the economy is largely influenced by their perceptions of their own costs, as majorities describe the economy negatively due to the cost of everyday expenses (64%), inflation (63%), the cost of housing (57%), or the cost of health care (48%).” [KFF, 2/21/24]

Just 16 Percent Of Voters Think Trump Has A Health Care Plan. “While Republican voters think President Trump has a better approach to determining the future of the ACA, many say they either don’t think he has a health care plan to replace the 2010 law or are unsure. A majority of voters, including seven in ten Republican voters, say they do not think President Trump has a health care plan to replace the ACA (42%) or that they are not sure if he has a plan (43%).” [KFF, 2/21/24] 

ACA Popularity Remains High As More Republicans View The Law Favorably. “The Affordable Care Act continues to be more popular than it was prior to Republican attempts to repeal it in 2017, with six in ten (59%) expressing a favorable view…However, views of the Affordable Care Act remain partisan with nearly nine in ten (87%) Democrats and about half (55%) of independents holding positive views of the law while two-thirds (67%) of Republicans view the law unfavorably. One-third (33%) of Republicans view the law favorably, a share that has increased since the law was enacted.” [KFF, 2/21/24]

Half Of Voters Want To Expand The ACA. “Building on the ACA has been a focal point of President Biden’s health care agenda, while former President Trump has recently discussed his desire to try again to repeal and replace the law. Half of the public say they would like to see the next president and Congress expand what the ACA does. A smaller share wants to keep the law as it is (16%) and about a third want to either scale back what the law does (14%) or repeal it entirely (18%).” [KFF, 2/21/24] 

A Majority Of Democrats And Independents Want To Expand The ACA. “Partisans differ on these approaches, with about three in four Democrats wanting the 2024 incoming administration and Congress to expand what the law does (77%), while two-thirds of Republicans want the law to be scaled back (23%) or repealed entirely (39%). A majority of independents want the law to be expanded (48%) or kept as it is (18%).” [KFF, 2/21/24]

Voters Want Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions To Remain Law. “These protections have been consistently popular among the public, and about two-thirds of adults say it is “very important” that provisions prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history (67%) and prohibiting insurance companies from charging sick people more (65%) remain law.” [KFF, 2/21/24]