Earlier this week on Lillypad, I told you why I’m passionate about getting involved in the public policies that impact healthcare in this country. My goal is to help people recognize how important health issues are affected by policy decisions made in D.C. and in state capitals around the nation–and to empower them to engage with policymakers to make a difference. That’s why I started the Campaign for Modern Medicines. CMM is a coalition of non-profit organizations, businesses, and individuals from across the country who believe that a vibrant community of empowered advocates can make a real impact on the policy decisions that will improve our health. With the support of our partners, we advocate for policies that bring safe, effective, and breakthrough medicines to patients.
Watch the Campaign For Modern Medicines video here.
We empower our members to engage with legislators and promote policies that ensure individuals have comprehensive access to the safe, effective, and innovative medicines they need, and that the United States continues to be the world’s leader in biomedical innovation. Over the past year and a half, I’ve worked with individuals and organizations from all over the country to protect Medicare Part D and advocate for a clean and timely Prescription Drug User Fee Act reauthorization.
When the Congressional “super committee” was formed last year to determine a plan for deficit reduction, we launched a campaign to protect Medicare Part D from changes that would have increased seniors’ premiums by up to 40%. In only a few months, we’d gathered over 10,000 signatures on a petition asking policymakers to preserve Part D, and we heard stories from thousands of people who told us how important Medicare is to them.
More recently, when Congress was considering the fifth reauthorization of PDUFA, we mobilized our community to urge Congress to pass a timely PDUFA V bill, free of extraneous policies that could have delayed or prevented its passage. We were successful. President Obama signed a clean PDUFA V into law in early July–significantly ahead of its deadline, and with nearly unanimous bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
Our work is not done. Of course, there is a wide range of health policies on the state and federal levels that have a big impact on men’s health. The implementation of healthcare reform will bring big changes to healthcare in this country, and we’ll be encouraging policymakers to make decisions that promote access to a wide range of medicines and that create an innovation-friendly environment. From entitlement reform to state decisions on Essential Health Benefits, CMM will be on the forefront — building a bigger community of partners interested in these issues and more and advocating to policymakers at the right times.
Are you interested in joining us? Email me at amy@modernmedicines.com. We’re always looking for new partners to join our cause and help advocate for policies that will bring new, safe, and effective medicines to patients. You can explore our website at www.modernmedicines.com, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see us in action.
