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      Medical professionals, students, ACTUP New York, and their supporters protested outside Pfizer's global headquarters in New York City on March 2, 2019.

      Cancer Patients Challenge Biden Admin's Refusal to Lower Price of Lifesaving Drug

      "We request HHS to consider this appeal directly... because the NIH has repeatedly demonstrated its unwillingness to even acknowledge that the Bayh-Dole Act includes an obligation to make products invented with federal funds 'available to the public on reasonable terms.'"

      Kenny Stancil
      Mar 23, 2023

      Two days after President Joe Biden's administration rejected a petition asking federal regulators to use their authority to lower the astronomical price of a lifesaving prostate cancer drug developed entirely with public funds, petitioners on Thursday filed an administrative appeal.

      At issue is enzalutamide, a drug the Japanese pharmaceutical giant Astellas and its U.S. counterpart Pfizer sell under the brand name Xtandi. Although Xtandi owes its existence to U.S. taxpayers, who bankrolled 100% of its development, an annual supply of the drug costs $189,900 in the United States—three to six times more than its list price in other wealthy nations.

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      Big Pharma
      Rep. Rashida Tlaib

      Tlaib Revives Bill to Remove Medically Necessary Debt From Credit Reports

      Americans owe nearly $200 billion in collective medical debt, around $88 billion of which is reflected in their credit reports.

      Brett Wilkins
      Mar 23, 2023

      Asserting that "undergoing a medically necessary procedure should never haunt someone financially," Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Wednesday reintroduced legislation to ban the collection of medical debt for two years and prohibit such indebtedness from appearing on patients' credit reports.

      First introduced in 2021, Tlaib's Consumer Protection for Medical Debt Collections Act would safeguard people who, "at no fault of their own, got sick and could not afford medical care due to our broken healthcare system," the congresswoman's office explained.

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      medical debt
      Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks during a hearing

      Medicare Advantage Industry 'Scare Tactics' and Lobbying Intensify Over Efforts to Curb Fraud

      "These companies have built entire businesses around making beneficiaries look as sick as possible," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "And unsurprisingly, government watchdogs have discovered widespread abuse."

      Jake Johnson
      Mar 23, 2023

      In the wake of numerous studies and investigations detailing the staggering level of fraud in the privately run Medicare Advantage program, the Biden administration proposed a new rule aimed at cracking down on upcoding—a common industry practice whereby plans describe patients as sicker than they actually are to reap larger payments from the federal government.

      The rule, finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, sparked a furious lobbying blitz that has only intensified in recent weeks, with the for-profit insurance industry's most powerful players leading the fight against the proposal and other policy changes that they have falsely characterized as Medicare Advantage "cuts."

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      medicare advantage
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