National MS Society Testifies on Access to Medication Before Congressional Education and Labor Committee
September 26, 2019
Update: On December 12, 2019 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3.
Bari Talente, National MS Society Executive Vice President of Advocacy, testified on Capitol Hill as part of the “Making Health Care More Affordable: Lowering Drug Pricing and Increasing Transparency” hearing. The Society continues to raise awareness around the high cost of MS disease modifying therapies through its
recommendations on access to MS medications. The Society’s full written testimony is
available online, and the live stream/recording can be
viewed here.
The hearing took place in the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee – Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee. The following organization joined to testify:
- Mr. Frederick Isasi, J.D., Executive Director, Families USA
- Dr. Mariana P. Socal, MD, MS, MPP, Ph.D., Assistant Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management
- Mr. Christopher Holt, Director of Health Care Policy, American Action Forum
- Mr. Craig Garthwaite, Associate Professor of Strategy, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
- Mr. David Mitchell, Founder, Patients for Affordable Drugs Now
The Society believes that medications can only changes lives if people can access them and that medications and the process for getting them must be: affordable, simple and transparent.