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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 11 months

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On Wednesday, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) reintroduced a proposal to make higher education free at public schools for most Americans — and pay for it by taxing Wall Street.

The College for All Act of 2023 would massively change the higher education landscape in the U.S., taking a step toward Sanders’s long-standing goal of making public college free for all. It would make community college and public vocational schools tuition-free for all students, while making any public college and university free for students from single-parent households making less than $125,000 or couples making less than $250,000 — or, the vast majority of families in the U.S.

The bill would increase federal funding to make tuition free for most students at universities that serve non-white groups, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It would also double the maximum award to Pell Grant recipients at public or nonprofit private colleges from $7,395 to $14,790.

If passed, the lawmakers say their bill would be the biggest expansion of access to higher education since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act, a bill that would massively increase access to college in the ensuing decades. The proposal would not only increase college access, but also help to tackle the student debt crisis.

“Today, this country tells young people to get the best education they can, and then saddles them for decades with crushing student loan debt. To my mind, that does not make any sense whatsoever,” Sanders said. “In the 21st century, a free public education system that goes from kindergarten through high school is no longer good enough. The time is long overdue to make public colleges and universities tuition-free and debt-free for working families.”

Debt activists expressed support for the bill. “This is the only real solution to the student debt crisis: eliminate tuition and debt by fully funding public colleges and universities,” the Debt Collective wrote on Wednesday. “It’s time for your member of Congress to put up or shut up. Solve the root cause and eliminate tuition and debt.”

These initiatives would be paid for by several new taxes on Wall Street, found in a separate bill reintroduced by Sanders and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) on Wednesday. The Tax on Wall Street Speculation would enact a 0.5% tax on stock trades, a 0.1% tax on bonds and a 0.005% tax on trades on derivatives and other types of assets.

The tax would primarily affect the most frequent, and often the wealthiest, traders and would be less than a typical fee for pension management for working class investors, the lawmakers say. It would raise up to $220 billion in the first year of enactment, and over $2.4 trillion over a decade. The proposal has the support of dozens of progressive organizations as well as a large swath of economists.

“Let us never forget: Back in 2008, middle class taxpayers bailed out Wall Street speculators whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, homes, life savings, and ability to send their kids to college,” said Sanders. “Now that giant financial institutions are back to making record-breaking profits while millions of Americans struggle to pay rent and feed their families, it is Wall Street’s turn to rebuild the middle class by paying a modest financial transactions tax.”

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dontmean2bepoliticalbut · 10 months

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#us politics #independents #progressives #progressivism #progressive politics #2023 #president joe biden #biden administration #senate health education labor and pensions committee #sen. bernie sanders #cancel student debt #student debt #student debt forgiveness #us supreme court #scotus #higher education act #students for fair admissions v. harvard #biden v. nebraska

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progressivegraffiti · 1 year

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Bernie Sanders DESTROYS Republican scheme to eliminate Social Security | Brian Tyler Cohen

Bernie Sanders is now Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Find out how he is strategizing for healthcare and Social Security.

#bernie sanders #brian tyler cohen #healthcare #social security #Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee

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reasonsforhope · 1 month

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Less than three months after U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and her colleagues launched an investigation into the four major American manufacturers of inhalers, three of the companies have relented, making commitments to cap costs for their inhalers at $35 for patients who now pay much more.

25 million Americans have asthma and 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), meaning over 40 million Americans rely on inhalers to breathe.

Inhalers have been available since the 1950s, and most of the drugs they use have been on the market for more than 25 years.

According to a statement from the Wisconsin Senator’s office, inhaler manufacturers sell the exact same products at a much lower costs in other countries. One of AstraZeneca’s inhalers, Breztri Aerosphere, costs $645 in the U.S.—but just $49 in the UK. Inhalers made by Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Teva have similar disparities.

Baldwin and her Democratic colleagues—New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—pressured the companies to lower their prices by writing letters to GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Teva, and AstraZeneca requesting a variety of documents that show why such higher prices are charged in America compared to Europe.

As a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Baldwin recently announced that as a result of the letters they had secured commitments from three of the four to lower the out-of-pocket costs of inhalers to a fixed $35.00 rate.

“For the millions of Americans who rely on inhalers to breathe, this news is a major step in the right direction as we work to lower costs and hold big drug companies accountable,” said Senator Baldwin.

A full list of the inhalers and associated drugs can be viewed here.

It’s the second time in the last year that pharmaceutical companies were forced to provide reasonable prices—after the cost of insulin was similarly capped successfully at $35 per month thanks to Congressional actions led by the White House.

-via Good News Network, March 25, 2024

#united states #us politics #us senate #tammy baldwin #bernie sanders #big pharma #health care #us healthcare #inhaler #asthma #pulmonary disease #healthcare access #affordability #disability #good news #hope

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audhd-space · 3 months

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ID :

“The burden of disease and disability from Long COVID, when you measure it, is on par with the burden of cancer and heart disease. Even if people emerge unscathed after having the first infection they can still get long covid after reinfection. Not enough people know this fact. The best way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent COVID in the first place. There is no Long COVID without COVID.”

World-renowned COVID-19 researcher Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, January 2024, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

#long covid #HELPLongCovid #Dr Ziyad Al-Aly #burden of disability #reinfection #chronically ill #chronic illness #invisible illness #disability #chronic pain

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prismatic-bell · 1 year

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SO YOU WANT TO HELP THE RAILWAY WORKERS: A CHECKLIST

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a news article.

This is a shitty, shitty situation, and unfortunately we're in a position where all we can do is make it less shitty. BUT. WE HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT.

Grab that phone and your unlimited data plan, because we're about to flood some phone lines, babes. Start by texting "Sign PZPAKG" to 50409 to sign the action letter written by Resistbot. Once you've done that, reblog this post (if I see more likes than reblogs on this post I'm gonna shit lead) because there are links in here and Tumblr search will eat it, and this will only work if we get a ton of eyeballs on it.

First, you'll want this link, which lists all 100 State Senators. (If you live in Massachussetts or Rhode Island, skip down to "Ready to do more?" Don't call your Senators yet.) Yes, I'm aware this webpage looks like it was made in 2006, I'm extremely sorry (your tax dollars at work), but you do what you gotta. You're going to start by looking up the Senators from your state. This site will direct you to their official webpages. Look for "locations," not "contact," because most of them use email contact forms as a first line of contact these days. You want phone numbers. You should find at least two--one in Washington, DC and one in your state's capitol. (Some may have more than one in-state. I know here in AZ Kelly and Sinema have both a Phoenix and Tucscon office, and Kelly also has one on the Navajo Nation.)

Pick one, it doesn't matter which. Call it. You may get either a staffer or a voicemail. (If it's voicemail, listen carefully to the prompts. If it says voicemail is full, go back and try the other phone number.) Staffers are pretty friendly, but can occasionally seem a little disconnected or brusque. If that's the case, it is not you--your call's probably been routed through a switchboard and they're experiencing lag. Don't worry about it, just say your bit.

HERE IS THE SCRIPT I USED THIS MORNING: "My name is [legal name] and I'm a constituent of Senator [name]'s from [my town]. I'm calling in support of the railway unions in light of this frankly extremely bad deal they're being asked to accept. If railway workers are so important to our economy that Congress can get involved, then they're important enough to deserve paid sick time. I'd like to encourage the Senator to vote NO on any bill that doesn't provide railway union workers with at least seven days of paid sick time."

Total time elapsed for me doing this: about five minutes.

OKAY. READY TO DO MORE? Some Senators have already signed an open letter saying they're in support of providing sick time to railway union members. Those Senators are Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, Cory Booker from New Jersey, Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley from Oregon, Alex Padilla from Callifornia, and Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island. Give them a call next. HERE'S THE SCRIPT I'VE BEEN USING: "My name is [legal name]. I'm actually an Arizona resident, but I wanted to thank Senator [name] for supporting sick time for railway union members. I was really disappointed to hear President Biden basically decided to get involved in union-busting and I'm glad to hear the Senator is on labor's side. Please encourage them to stay the course and get that sick leave pushed through." If you're from Massachusetts or Rhode Island, feel free to say something about how you're glad your state is standing up for labor when you're calling your own Senators on that list. You can say that to any Senator on this list if they happen to be yours, obviously, it's just definitely got even more of an impact if you're already a constituent.

OKAY. WANT TO KEEP GOING?

I've got one more assignment for you. This is the list of committee members for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. There are ten of them and some of them overlap with phone calls you've already made, so you're almost done. If you look at the script below and then look at the committee members and go "you think Republicans give a shit about this?," I am begging you to at least call Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney. Yes, the majority of the Republican Party is a nuclear trashfire. Yes, they're Republicans. But if you said "Nina, you have to go to dinner with six Senate members and three of them have to be Republicans," my picks would be Murkowski, Romney, and Liz Cheney. We might actually be able to make a dent in Murkowski and Romney if we try hard enough, and yes, "try" is important here. Fuck Yoda and his do-or-do-not bullshit, if activists in this country only went for sure things we'd still have chattel slavery and no votes for women. YOU GOTTA GET UP AND TRY.

SO HERE'S YOUR SCRIPT FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS.

"My name is [name]. I'm calling because Senator [name] is a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. I'd like to encourage him/her as a Committee member to lead by example in this current situation with the railway unions, and vote NO on any bill that does not provide railway workers with at least seven days of paid sick leave. I'm sure Senator [name]'s position on this committee has given them plenty of examples to know a healthy and organized labor force is far better for our economy than a sick and demoralized one."

GO BLOW UP THE PHONE LINES LIKE YOU'RE GUY FAWKES UNDER PARLIAMENT. The railway workers have had our backs all through Covid. It's high time we had theirs.

#politics #direct action #grassroots #unions #this is what all those words mean by the way

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macmanx · 7 months

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Starbucks announced on Wednesday that Schultz would be stepping down from the company’s board — with some outlets maintaining his anti-union stance had become a “distraction” that was hurting the company’s image. It’s a testament to the movement Starbucks workers have built: a movement capable of taking on a billion-dollar corporation and holding it to account. It’s been a long time coming. Starbucks workers have fought tirelessly across the country for fair pay, safe working conditions, and dignity on the job. So far, workers at 449 stores in 46 states have filed to unionize, and 356 Starbucks stores have already won their elections. The company has fought worker organizing at every turn: It has been prosecuted for violating labor law in over 2,000 instances, according to the campaign. Schultz himself has in many ways been the face of Starbucks’ vicious opposition to worker organizing. “Under Schultz’s leadership,” writes the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, “Starbucks has adopted an aggressively anti-union stance that is reflected in Schultz’s public statements, the company’s communications to workers, and its scorched-earth approach to blocking unionization activity.”

#starbucks #howard schultz #union busting #workers #labor #unions

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 5 days

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Dave Whammond

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 23, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 24, 2024

In the past two days, the Biden-Harris administration has announced a wide range of new rules to protect ordinary Americans.

Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the administration has finalized two new rules affecting patients in nursing homes and receiving home care, as well as the workers who care for them. The first sets minimum staffing requirements for facilities funded by Medicare and Medicaid, and the second concerns how home healthcare companies account for Medicaid funding.

In a speech at the Hmong Cultural and Community Agency in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Harris noted the extraordinary value of healthcare workers. She also explained that about 1.2 million Americans live in federally funded nursing homes, which make up about four fifths of the nursing homes in the country. But the majority of those homes—about 75% of them—are understaffed. This is dangerous and isolating for patients and demoralizing for workers, who have high rates of burnout and turnover.

Now, nursing homes that receive federal funding will have to provide at least 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident every day, less than the 4.1 hours the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services advocate but enough to require the hiring of about 12,000 registered nurses and 77,000 aides, at an annual cost of almost $7 billion.

Consumer organizations and labor unions pushed for the new rule, but nursing home operators strongly oppose the new mandate, saying it will force facilities to close because of a shortage of nurses. In response, Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra told Tami Luhby of CNN that no one should live in facilities that are unsafe or should receive inferior care. Luhby noted that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in September launched a $75 million campaign to increase the number of nurses in nursing homes.

The second rule the vice president announced had to do with home health aides. Medicaid currently pays about $125 billion a year to home healthcare companies, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers providing services for elderly and disabled Americans. These companies have never been required to report how that money was being spent. Now they will be required to spend 80% of the federal dollars they receive on workers’ salaries rather than administrative overhead.

Also yesterday, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a final rule that strengthens the HIPAA medical privacy rule for people from states that ban abortions who seek reproductive health care in states that permit them. In response to threats by Republican state officials to charge women who cross state lines to obtain abortion, contraception, or fertility treatments, the new rule prohibits health care providers, health plans, and other entities from disclosing patients’ reproductive health care records to state officials when they are being sought to investigate or charge patients, doctors, or others.

Today, the Labor Department announced a new rule that would guarantee that salaried workers who make less than $59,000 a year are compensated fairly for overtime work. The Trump administration set the salary threshold for those who did not have overtime protections at $35,568. As of July 1, 2024, the threshold will be $43,888, and on January 1, 2025, it will rise to $58,656. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said the change could affect 4 million workers.

“Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay,” acting secretary of the Department of Labor Julie Su said. “That is unacceptable. The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity.”

Also today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3–2 along party lines to ban the noncompete agreements that prevent workers from minimum-wage earners to top executives from changing jobs within the industry in which they work; senior executives can still be bound by such agreements. Initially used to protect trade secrets, noncompete clauses have expanded to cover what the FTC estimates to be 30 million people—one in five U.S. workers. They take away workers’ ability to improve their wages and conditions by quitting their jobs and moving to another company or starting their own. The FTC estimates that the end of such clauses could add almost $300 billion a year to workers’ wages.

“Robbing people of their economic liberty also robs them of all sorts of other freedoms,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. Neil Bradley, head of strategic advocacy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, countered: “If they can issue regulations with respect to unfair methods of competition, then there’s really no aspect of the U.S. economy they couldn’t regulate.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to sue over the rule.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released Monday found that, although Biden and Harris have made addressing climate change a centerpiece of their administration, only 10% of the people who say they think climate change is a very important issue had heard or read a lot about what the administration has accomplished, and 49% said they had read not much or nothing about it. When told some of the things the administration has done, a strong majority of those who care about addressing climate change support those policies.

“Even people who feel the administration has done too little on climate change support these policies,” reporters for CBS News note. They conclude that the disconnect “may be more about Mr. Biden needing to get his message out there than having to convince this ‘climate constituency’—those who call the climate issue very important—of the substance of his policies.”

Meanwhile, today is the fourth anniversary of the press conference in which former president Donald Trump suggested injecting disinfectant to get rid of Covid, prompting the maker of Lysol to warn people not to use their disinfectant cleaning products internally. Four years later, Trump spent the day in a Manhattan courtroom, where his former friend David Pecker, who ran the company that published the National Enquirer tabloid magazine, testified for the prosecution.

Legal analyst Lisa Rubin summarized Pecker’s testimony, noting that the big takeaways were that Trump and Pecker were transactional friends for decades and that “the agreement they struck in 2015 went way beyond the ‘catch and kill’ aspect of the scheme that has been known for years.” Together, they not only killed stories damaging to Trump, but also pushed fake stories about Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, who were running against him for the 2016 Republican nomination, as well as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

As the trial grabs headlines, Trump’s power seems to be diminishing. He is demonstrably not in power in the courtroom, where he must do as the judge tells him and reporters say he has often fallen asleep, and none of his family members have shown up to support him.

Trump seems aware that his power is waning. Early yesterday, he called for supporters to “RALLY BEHIND MAGA,” but only a handful of people gathered outside the courthouse. Today he claimed that the turnout was low because police had “completely CLOSED DOWN” the streets around the courthouse. That was a lie: the streets, the sidewalk, even the courthouse have remained open to the public.

Pennsylvania’s primary election today revealed Trump’s real electoral weakness. He won about 83.5% of the Republican votes, but Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race in early March and has not campaigned since, won 16.5%. In the suburbs of Philadelphia, the so-called “collar counties,” Haley won closer to 25% of the Republican vote.

Biden, meanwhile, took the fight against MAGA Republicans to Trump’s home state of Florida. There, an extreme abortion ban signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will take effect on May 1, but in November, Florida voters will have the option to add protections for abortion before fetal viability to the state constitution, returning the state to the standards it had before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That measure is expected to energize Democrats in the state.

And then, tonight, by a vote of 79–18, the Senate passed the $95 billion national security supplemental bill that provides funding, mostly for military supplies, to Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific and humanitarian aid for war-torn countries; requires the sale of TikTok; and permits confiscating Russian assets. MAGA Republicans are still adamantly opposed to aid for Ukraine, but a strong bipartisan majority has finally gotten the chance to weigh in.

As soon as the measure passed, Biden issued a statement, saying: “Tonight, a bipartisan majority in the Senate joined the House to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point. Congress has passed my legislation to strengthen our national security and send a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #Funding for national security #war in Ukraine #humanitarian aid #MAGA Republicans #women #abortion #reproductive rights #for the people #economic prosperity

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders sent Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) a letter this week asking the drug company to halt planned U.S. price increases on its COVID-19 vaccine, saying price hikes could make the shot unaffordable for millions of Americans.

Sanders said in his letter that raising prices would be particularly egregious after the U.S. government provided around $1.7 billion to fund development of the vaccine. The letter was addressed to Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel.

"You propose to make the vaccine unaffordable for the residents of this country who made the production of the vaccine possible," wrote Sanders, who is set to become chairman of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions later this month. "That is not acceptable."

Moderna has not settled on a price yet, but Bancel has said that a range of $110 to $130 a dose for the vaccine once the United States moves to a commercial market for the shots is reasonable given the value they create.

The top end of that range is around eight times the price in the earliest U.S. contracts for the vaccine and nearly five times the roughly $27 a dose the government paid for booster shots last year.

"While we are still in discussions with stakeholders on the price of our COVID-19 vaccines, Moderna is committed to pricing that reflects the value that COVID-19 vaccines bring to patients, healthcare systems, and society," Moderna said in an emailed statement.

The company said that under the Affordable Care Act, its COVID-19 shots will continue to be available at no cost for most Americans.

Sanders is a democratic socialist whose presidential campaigns have pushed the U.S. Democratic Party agenda leftward. The Vermont Senator has railed against high drug prices and backed Medicare-for-all, and his chairmanship of the HELP committee could put drug companies in his crosshairs.

Sanders wrote that Bancel and several of Moderna's founders have become billionaires after the vaccine's launch. He said the higher prices would cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars and make the shots too expensive for uninsured and underinsured Americans.

"Now, in the midst of a continuing public health crisis and a growing federal deficit, is not the time for Moderna to be quadrupling the price of this vaccine. Now is not the time for unacceptable corporate greed," Sanders wrote.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine sales were around $18.4 billion in 2022. That is expected to fall sharply next year even with the price increases, as demand for the shots has dropped off. The drugmaker said on Monday it expects a minimum of $5 billion in revenue from the shots this year.

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kp777 · 1 year

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By Kenny Stancil

Common Dreams

May 10, 2023

"We want to know why there are Americans who are dying, or are becoming much sicker than they should, because they can't afford the medicine they need," said the Vermont Independent.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday paid his respects to the victims of insulin price gouging in front of the Big Pharma CEOs who are responsible and reiterated the need to make all lifesaving prescription drugs affordable.

Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), opened the panel's hearing by acknowledging "the many Americans who have needlessly lost their lives because of the unaffordability of insulin" and "the thousands who wound up in emergency rooms and hospitals suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis—a very serious medical condition as a result of rationing their insulin."

"This is a problem that is unique to the United States."

Diabetes—a disease that can wreak havoc on organs, eyesight, and limbs if left unmanaged—affects more than 37 million U.S. adults and is the country's eighth leading cause of death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although it costs less than $10 to produce a vial of insulin required to treat diabetes, uninsured patients in the U.S. pay nearly $300 per vial of the century-old drug because Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi—the three pharmaceutical corporations that control 90% of the nation's lucrative insulin market—charge excessive prices with little resistance from federal lawmakers.

As Sanders noted, such corporate profiteering—a problem compounded by the widespread lack of coverage under the nation's for-profit healthcare system—forces many people to skip doses, with deadly consequences. Recent studies found that 1.3 million people in the U.S. ration insulin, including an estimated 1 in 4 people with Type 1 diabetes. People without insurance are the most likely to do so, followed by those with private insurance.

Ahead of the hearing, Sanders released a video featuring diabetes patients sharing their struggles to afford insulin in the U.S.

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"Imagine just three companies having worldwide market dominance over such necessities as air and water," Steve Knievel, an advocate with Public Citizen's access to medicines program, said Wednesday in a statement. "This is what people with diabetes face with insulin."

Addressing the CEOs of the three aforementioned firms during the hearing, Sanders outlined how each has jacked up prices in recent decades:

Eli Lilly increased the price of Humalog 34 times since 1996 from $21 to $275—a 1,200% increase. The same exact product. No changes at all. The only reason for the huge increase in price during that period was that there was no legislation to stop them. In America, the drug companies could charge any price they want. But it's not just Eli Lilly. Novo Nordisk increased the price of Novolog 28 times from $40 in 2001 to $289—a 625% increase. And then there is Sanofi, a company that increased the price of Lantus 28 times from $35 in 2001 to $292—a 730% increase.

"In every instance it is the same exact product that rose astronomically," said Sanders. "And let's be clear. This is a problem that is unique to the United States. In France, 20 years ago, the cost of Lantus was $40. Today, it has gone down to just $24."

Sanders has famously accompanied Americans with diabetes on a two-mile trip from Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario. In Canada, people can purchase the exact same insulin product for one-tenth of the price they would pay in the U.S.

"We cannot rely on limited price concessions from insulin corporations to ensure this essential resource is accessible and fairly priced for Americans who need it."

Also in attendance at Wednesday's hearing were the leaders of CVS Health, Express Scripts, and OptumRX, three major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Sanders took them to task, noting that "as insulin manufacturers continued to increase prices, PBMs signed secret deals to increase their profits by putting insulin products on their formularies not with the lowest list price but the ones that gave PBMs the most generous rebates."

Thanks to sustained public pressure and fresh policy changes—namely the Inflation Reduction Act's provision limiting Medicare beneficiaries' insulin copayments to $35 per month—Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi have all recently pledged to significantly lower the list prices for some of their insulin products. As Sanders explained:

Eli Lilly announced it would reduce the price of Humalog by 70% later this year—from $275 to $83. Eli Lilly also decreased the price of its generic Humalog to $25 per vial. Novo Nordisk announced it would reduce the price of Novolog by 75% beginning next year—from $289 to $72. Sanofi announced it would reduce the price of Lantus by 78% beginning next year—from $292 to $64.

While Sanders thanked the three companies for taking what he called "an important step forward," he stressed that "we must make sure that these price reductions go into effect so that every American with diabetes gets the insulin they need at an affordable price," vowing to "hold a hearing early next year to make certain that happens."

Knievel, meanwhile, said that "we cannot rely on limited price concessions from insulin corporations to ensure this essential resource is accessible and fairly priced for Americans who need it, regardless of their insurance status or age."

His message was echoed by Margarida Jorge, head of Lower Drug Prices Now.

"Certainly, these multimillion-dollar CEOs will spend their time in front of the committee patting themselves on the back for bowing to public pressure and lowering the cost of insulin," Jorge said in a statement. "But let's be clear, the tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford their prescription medication should not have to depend on the goodwill of greedy corporations who have repeatedly shown they care about profits more than people to bring them relief from skyrocketing prescription costs."

Sanders and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) recently introduced the Insulin for All Act of 2023, which would cap insulin prices at $20 per vial.

Only federal legislation of this sort can "put an end to decades of price gouging that has led to preventable suffering and costs the lives of people with diabetes who need insulin to live," Knievel emphasized.

Meanwhile, Sanders made clear that the unaffordability of insulin is part of a much broader crisis and proceeded to ask:

If Eli Lilly can lower the price of Humalog by 70%, why is it still charging the American people about $200,000 for Cyramza (CYR-AMZA) to treat stomach cancer—a drug that can be purchased in Germany for just $54,000? If Novo Nordisk can lower the price of Novolog by 75%, why is it still charging Americans with diabetes $12,000 for Ozempic when the exact same drug can be purchased for just $2,000 in Canada? If Sanofi can reduce the price of Lantus by 78%, why is it still charging cancer patients in America over $200,000 for Caprelsa—a drug that can be purchased in Japan for just $37,000?

"Lowering the cost of insulin is only one part of what we must accomplish," said the senator. "This committee is determined to end the outrage in which Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for virtually every brand name prescription drug on the market—whether it is a drug for cancer, heart disease, asthma, or whatever."

"We want to know why there are Americans who are dying, or are becoming much sicker than they should, because they can't afford the medicine they need," he continued. "We have got to ask, how does it happen that nearly half of all new drugs cost over $150,000? How does it happen that cancer drugs which, in some cases, cost just a few dollars to manufacture are selling on the market for over $100,000?"

"Americans die, get sicker than they should, and go bankrupt because they cannot afford the outrageous cost of prescription drugs, while the drug companies and the PBMs make huge profits. That has got to change."

"I know that our guests from the drug companies will tell us how much it costs to develop a new drug and how often the research for new cures is not successful," said Sanders. "I get that. But what they are going to have to explain to us is why, over the past decade, 14 major pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends."

"They will also have to explain how as an entire industry pharma spent $8.5 billion on lobbying and over $745 million on campaign contributions over the past 25 years to get Congress to do its bidding," Sanders added. "Unbelievably, last year, drug companies hired over 1,700 lobbyists including the former congressional leaders of both major political parties—that's over three pharmaceutical industry lobbyists for every member of Congress."

In Sanders' words, "That could well explain why we pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world and why today drug companies can set the price of new drugs at any level they wish."

"While Americans pay outrageously high prices for prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry and the PBMs make enormous profits," he noted. "In 2021, 10 major pharmaceutical companies in America made over $100 billion in profits—a 137% increase from the previous year. The 50 top executives in these companies received over $1.9 billion in total compensation in 2021 and are in line to receive billions more in golden parachutes once they leave their companies. Last year, the three major PBMs in America made $27.5 billion in profits—a 483% increase over the past decade. These PBMs manage 80% of all prescription drugs in America."

"In other words, Americans die, get sicker than they should, and go bankrupt because they cannot afford the outrageous cost of prescription drugs, while the drug companies and the PBMs make huge profits," Sanders lamented. "That has got to change and this committee is going to do everything possible to bring about that change."

Jorge, for her part, described the Inflation Reduction Act as a "milestone" law that "will help tens of millions of seniors."

"But it is just the start," said Jorge. "Congress should pass legislation to bring the prescription drug reforms that are saving Medicare patients and taxpayers billions to people of all ages, so that everyone can get lower drug prices on medicines they need—including insulin."

"Congress, not greedy corporations trying to redeem their tarnished reputations, should be leading the way on reforms that put patients ahead of pharmaceutical profits," she added.

#bernie sanders #prescription drug price #big pharma #health care #insulin prices #Youtube

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punemy-spotted · 9 months

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ehehehe so here's a tough one, elaborate on any one of these future possible additions to the Valley - Jake, Lee, Ransom, or Lloyd (Lah-loid) 😈😈

this could be headcanons or backstory ruminations

Smoochin’ you, smoochin’ you, smoochin’ you for your wondrous asks, Brandyyyyyy. Okayokayokay, in the interest of not rambling for literally forever, I’m choosing ONE. ONE at a time, Tessa dammit.

Let’s start with our favorite bastard man — Lloyd. Complete with Moodboard. None of this complies with actual Grey Man canon.

In life, Lloyd Hansen was not a good man. Could barely be generously characterized as good — or even a man, considerin’ the crimes he was arrested an’ subsequently sentenced for. Thing about monsters though — monsters draw in more monsters.

Pierce Mineral Resources hollowed Lloyd Hansen out as easily an’ greedily as they hollow out the mountain, dug tunnels into his heart and soul to mine out what little humanity was left inside of his body, leaving nothing but blood, darkness, and death.

And then they set that snarlin’ beast of an agent loose onto the world.

Got a mining town thinkin’ about unionizing? A strike startin’ to sound real plausible? Fast talkin’ lobbyist gettin’ too close to a popular Senator charin’ the newly-created U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions? That’s a job for the Grey Man, all smoke, mirrors, and violence.

Come join us for a Family sleepover, Down Here, in this Valley!

#shroombox #brandycranby #lloyd hansen #lloyd hansen imagine #dark!lloyd hansen #a family sleepover down here in the valley #yeah my guy is fully a villain i just get corporate shill vibes off him #honestly he is probably a pinkerton #a family sleepover in the valley ⛰

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reasonsforhope · 1 year

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"Sanofi on Thursday said it’s planning to cut the U.S. price of its most popular insulin drug by 78% and cap monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 for people who have private insurance starting next year.

In addition to its widely prescribed Lantus, the French drugmaker will reduce the list price of its short-acting insulin Apidra by 70%. Sanofi already offers a $35 monthly cap on insulin for uninsured diabetes patients.

The company is the last major insulin manufacturer to try to head off government efforts to cap monthly costs by announcing its own steep price cuts for the lifesaving hormone.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk made similar sweeping cuts earlier this month after years of political pressure and public outrage over the high costs of diabetes care. The three companies control over 90% of the global insulin market.

... The change takes effect Jan. 1.

President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $35, but it did not provide protection to diabetes patients who are covered by private insurance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced a bill earlier this month that would cap the list price of insulin at $20 per vial.

Both the president and Sanders on Tuesday directly called on Sanofi to slash its prices after Novo Nordisk announced its own cuts that day.

Roughly 37 million people in the U.S., or 11.3% of the country’s population, have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 8.4 million [U.S.] diabetes patients rely on insulin, the American Diabetes Association said."

-via CNBC, 3/16/23

#insulin #big pharma #diabetes #health care #eli lilly and co #us healthcare #healthcare access #prescription drugs #biden #bernie sanders #health insurance #united states #us politics #good news #hope #it should start IMMEDIATELY and I hope their efforts to avoid gov price caps FAIL WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE #but the important thing is access to affordable insulin #so i'll take the progress #affordable healthcare

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theorderofthetriad · 1 year

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youtube

"I'm not against unions, I'm not at all. Some of my very good friends work for unions." Former CEO and current Republican Senator from Oklahoma Markwayne Mullen claimed before railing against unions. Considering that later in this exchange he lied about his salary as CEO of Mullen Plumbing and about having started his business from "less than nothing" when he, in fact, inherited the business from his father, I somehow doubt the accuracy of his claim to not be against unions or having friends who work for unions, along with pretty much every other claim he makes here.

This exchange against Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien from the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee hearing on “Defending the Right of Workers to Organize Unions Free from Illegal Corporate Union-Busting” (March 8th, 2023), with committee chair Bernie Sanders having to interrupt to mediate, is frankly amazing to watch.

After the hearing, Sean O'Brien, whom Mullen tried to attack for having a salary of 193k, tweeted this:

(Link to the article cited)

#you can tell it's serious when bernie pulls off his face mask #193k is just NOT a lot of money all things considered #Sean O'Brien represents 1.2 MILLION union workers ffs #politics #us politics #bernie sanders #markwayne mullin #sean o'brien #teamsters #union #union rights #union busting #GOP - Gaslight Obstruct Project #<- watch this post not show up in any of these tags because i DARED to provide links #top tino post #Youtube #i... didn't tag this post ''youtube''... tumblr why did you tag this ''youtube'' for me????#santagno

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reddancer1 · 3 days

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Bernie takes on Big Pharma

There is a lot of discussion about how "divided" our nation is and, on many issues, that is absolutely true.

But if you ask most Americans — Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, conservatives — they will agree: We are getting ripped off, big time, by the pharmaceutical industry.

The good news — and there is good news — is that scientists have made some amazing and important discoveries that have saved millions of lives during the global COVID pandemic, and others that have the capacity to save and extend the quality of life for people in this country and around the world.

The bad news — and there is plenty of it — is that those advances in science and technology mean nothing if people cannot afford them.

In this country, we pay over 3 times as much as other major countries for brand name prescription drugs, and, in some cases we pay 10 or 20 times more than the people of other countries for the same exact product.

The result of the high cost of prescription drug costs is obvious: One out of four Americans cannot afford to purchase the prescriptions their doctors write and some die as a result.

And if you think the high cost of prescription drugs is just an individual patient or family problem that may not impact you, I am here to tell you that you are mistaken.

This is also a taxpayer issue. The high cost of these medicines drives up the cost of Medicaid, Medicare, and other public health programs as well as private insurance. When people can't afford the medicine they need and get sicker than they should, they end up in emergency rooms or hospitals at great expense to our already bloated and wasteful healthcare system.

So no matter who you are, no matter how healthy or wealthy you are, this is an issue that impacts ALL OF US.

Yet while millions of Americans struggle to pay for the lifesaving medicine they need and all of us pay the price, the drug companies and their executives have never had it so well.

In 2022, Johnson & Johnson made nearly $18 billion in profits, paid its CEO over $27 million in compensation, and spent over $17 billion on stock buybacks and dividends.

That same year, Merck made $14.5 billion in profit, handed out over $7 billion in dividends to their wealthy stockholders, and paid its CEO over $52 million in compensation.

And Bristol Myers Squibb made $6.3 billion in profits last year, while recently spending over $12 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and giving its CEO over $41 million in compensation.

So where do we go from here?

First, let us acknowledge that we have made SOME progress on the issue of lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, seniors with diabetes are paying no more than $35 a month for the insulin they need; beginning next year, seniors will be paying no more than $2,000 out-of-pocket a year for prescription drugs; and for the first time in American history Medicare is negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry to lower some of the most expensive prescription drug prices in America.

I am also proud of the accomplishments the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), which I chair, has made to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.

Months ago, the HELP Committee launched an investigation into the outrageously high price of inhalers that 25 million Americans with asthma and 16 million Americans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) need to breathe.

After talking to the CEOs of the 4 major inhaler manufacturers, three of them have made a commitment to cap the cost of all of their brand name inhalers — Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline — to $35 at the counter, a substantial reduction in price. Up to this point Tevla has refused to join its competitors and lower its prices.

Last year, the CEO of Moderna committed during a HELP Committee hearing that his company would set up a patient assistance program so that no one in America would have to pay for their vaccine out of pocket.

In a separate HELP Committee hearing last May, the CEO of Eli Lilly committed that his company would not raise prices on existing insulin products after announcing very substantial price cuts for these products.

These efforts will improve life for millions of Americans. They will prevent unnecessary deaths, ease suffering, and save substantial sums of money for working class families.

But, despite all that we’ve accomplished, it is not enough. Not even close. Much more has to be done.

First, it is not just seniors who should be paying no more than $2,000 a year for prescription drugs — that must be made universal and extend to ALL Americans. Period. No matter what their health condition or how many prescription drugs they use, no one should pay more than $2,000 a year out-of-pocket.

There are also individual drugs like Ozempic, made by Novo Nordisk, that have the potential to be game changers in the diabetes and obesity epidemics. Yet, Americans are being charged outrageous and unsustainable prices for these products. We pay about $1,000 a month for this drug while the same exact product can be purchased for just $155 a month in Canada and just $59 in Germany. That may make sense to somebody, but not to me.

If we do not substantially reduce the price of this drug, millions who need it will be unable to afford it. Further, this extremely high price has the potential to bankrupt Medicare, the American people, and our entire healthcare system.

Further, we can no longer tolerate Astellas and Pfizer charging Americans with prostate cancer over $165,000 for Xtandi when that exact same product can be purchased for just $20,000 in Japan.

But it is not just these drugs — it is often the case that Americans are paying far more than people in other countries for the same exact medicines.

All over this country, the American people are asking why it is that they pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?

The answer is simple. It is because drug companies in America are allowed to charge whatever they want. And that’s what they do. Their business model is not about how they can save and improve the lives of as many people as possible — it is about maximizing profit. And that is something that should offend everyone.

I have introduced legislation to cut the price of prescription drugs by at least 50% by preventing the pharmaceutical industry from charging more for medicine in the U.S. than they do in Canada, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan — a concept that is not only supported by progressives, but former President Donald Trump.

I have also introduced legislation to allow patients, pharmacists, and wholesalers to purchase affordable prescription drugs from Canada, the United Kingdom, and other major countries with strong safety standards.

I will soon be introducing legislation that would greatly expand Medicare’s ability to negotiate the price of prescription drugs.

Working together, we can take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially lower the price of prescription drugs in America.

Yes. There are many issues which divide the American people — but not this one. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, a progressive or conservative, you understand that the extraordinary greed of the pharmaceutical industry must be ended.

When we do that, we will be improving the quality of life for millions of Americans while lowering the cost of healthcare in this country which is at least double that of any other wealthy country.

Let’s do it.

Bernie Sanders

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ms-cellanies · 1 year

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The text of an email I received from Bernie Sanders about the Senate refusing to vote in favor of paid leave for the railroad workers.

Yesterday was a day of both victory and defeat on the floor of the Senate as we addressed the looming crisis in the rail industry. The good news is that we took on the incredible greed of the railroad corporations and managed to get every Democrat (except Joe Manchin) and six Republicans to vote to secure paid sick leave for rail workers. The bad news is that, because of the absurd rules of the Senate, despite having a majority of senators we needed 60 votes to pass the amendment. (The House had passed it the day before.) With the failure of the Senate to pass my amendment on paid sick leave, I voted against final passage of the bill.

Let me be clear. This struggle for justice for rail workers is not over.

At a time of record-breaking profits for the rail industry, it is disgraceful that workers there do not have one single day of paid sick leave. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, I will do everything I can to make sure that rail workers in America are treated with dignity and respect. They deserve that benefit as does every worker in our country.

But right now, I'd like to share with you what is going on in the railway industry today, and why Congress got involved in this labor-management conflict under the Railway Labor Act.

The American people are increasingly disgusted by the outrageous level of corporate greed they are seeing. While working families are struggling to keep their heads above water, we are seeing unprecedented income and wealth inequality and soaring corporate profits. While the rich get richer everyone else struggles. There is no better example of that greed and that reality than what is occurring in the railway industry.

The rail industry has seen huge, record-breaking profits in recent years. In the first three quarters of this year, the rail industry made $21 billion in profits. Further, the profits are so high that the industry spent $25 billion this year not to improve rail safety or address the supply chain crisis. No. They spent $25 billion to buy back its own stocks and hand out huge dividends to its wealthy stockholders.

Since 2010 the rail industry has spent over $183 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. On top of all of that, the CEOs of many of these railway companies are enjoying huge compensation packages. While workers struggle, last year the CEO of CSX made over $20 million in total compensation. The CEOs of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern made over $14 million each.

In other words, in the railway industry corporate profits are soaring and CEOs have never had it so good. But, in the midst of all of that, what is going on for the workers?

Right now, if you are a rail worker – and this is a job that is hard and dangerous – you are entitled to a grand total of zero sick days. Let me repeat that. You are entitled to ZERO sick days if you work in the freight rail industry.

What this means is that if you get sick, or if your child or your spouse gets sick and you need to take time off of work, not only will you not get paid, you will get reprimanded and could get fired.

What the freight rail industry is saying to its workers is that it doesn't matter if you have COVID, or if you're lying in a hospital bed because of an emergency. If you do not come into work no matter what the reason, the rail industry wants the right to punish you or even fire you.

It is hard to believe these conditions still exist in America in the year 2022.

At a time when the railroads made over $21 billion in profits so far this year it turns out that guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to workers would cost the industry $321 million a year. That is less than 2 percent of their overall annual profits. This is what greed is all about.

The United States, sadly, is the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee paid sick days. Pathetic. In a modern civilized society, it should be a no- brainer that if you or your family gets sick, you should have paid sick leave. End of discussion.

As Congress ends this session, it is clear that we have an enormous amount of work in front of us next year. Not only do we have to address the situation in the rail industry, not only do we have to guarantee paid sick leave to all Americans, we must move forward to create an economy that works for all, and not just the few. It is not acceptable that 60 percent of American workers live paycheck to paycheck, that 85 million are uninsured or underinsured, that parents cannot afford childcare, that young people cannot attend college because of the cost and that almost 600,000 of our people are homeless. It is clearly imperative that we address the existential threat of climate change.

Bottom line. There is an enormous amount of work to be done. Let’s do it together.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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