Prescription Drugs

• KFF Health News: Lack of Affordability Tops Older Americans’ List of Health Care Worries

  July 11, 2024: What weighs most heavily on older adults’ minds when it comes to health care? The cost of services and therapies, and their ability to pay. “It’s on our minds a whole lot because of our age and because everything keeps getting more expens...Read more >

• KFF Health News: Save Billions or Stick With Humira? Drug Brokers Steer Americans to the Costly Choice

  September 21, 2023: Tennessee last year spent $48 million on a single drug, Humira — about $62,000 for each of the 775 patients who were covered by its employee health insurance program and receiving the treatment. So when nine Humira knockoffs, known as biosimilars, ...Read more >

• Prescription Drug Insurance & Discount Programs for Seniors in New York State

  December 06, 2022:   Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) EPIC Helpline: 800-332-3742 (TTY 800-290-9138) https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/epic/ EPIC is a NYS program for older adults 65 and above who need help paying for prescription ...Read more >

• Senate Democrats Working to Pass Legislation to Lower Drug Prices in July

  July 04, 2022: The Washington Post and other media outlets reported Thursday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) and Senator Joe Manchin (WV) have been negotiating a plan to lower drug prices, including requiring Medicare ...Read more >

• Hearing Exposes Greed of Drug Corporation AbbVie

  May 24, 2021: According to a study released on May 18 by the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, the pharmaceutical corporation AbbVie has raised prices 470% in the United States for its widely used drugs Humira and Imbruvica over the past two decades. The ...Read more >

• KHN: As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them

  February 16, 2021: Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels. These bills, sponsor...Read more >

• KHN: Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets

  January 07, 2021: Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations. Clark, 57, a former insurance agent who lives in Bixby,...Read more >

• Congressman Brindisi and Congresswoman Rice’s Wrong Stance on USMCA (NAFTA 2) Trade Agreement

  November 12, 2019: A letter from 11 Democrats, including two from New York, expresses support for a drug patent provision in the NAFTA update that most of their caucus opposes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been wavering in recent weeks, repeatedly stating that he...Read more >

• WHAT WOULD REAL SOLUTIONS TO LOWER DRUG PRICES NOW LOOK LIKE?

  September 16, 2019: WHAT WOULD REAL SOLUTIONS TO LOWER DRUG PRICES NOW LOOK LIKE? www.lowerdrugpricesnow.org   The Lower Drug Prices Now coalition is fighting for transformative, bold reforms that will ensure everyone--no matter where they live, what they lo...Read more >

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Current Debate on Driving down the Cost of Prescription Drugs

  April 30, 2019:   How much can government negotiations drive down the cost of prescription drugs for patients? In other countries where the government negotiates directly for prescription drugs, costs are significantly lower for the same drugs than in the...Read more >