John,

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is preparing to announce the first 10 medications that will be eligible for Medicare drug price negotiations. Medicare will finally start leveraging its purchasing power to make prescription drugs more affordable for taxpayers and seniors. But Big Pharma is fighting back, seeking to protect their outrageous profits at all costs.

Last year, when Democrats and President Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, it included critical protections for seniors and people with disabilities:

• Allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices;

• Capping the cost of insulin at $35;

• Putting a cap on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D medications;

• Making recommended vaccines free for Medicare beneficiaries;

• And, requiring drug corporations to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise their prices faster than inflation.

But the 10 largest pharmaceutical corporations, which raked in $448 billion in profits over the last 5 years under the old, lax rules, aren’t going to accept limits on their profiteering without putting up a fight.[1]

Drug corporations Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson―joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and lobby group PhRMA―have filed lawsuits claiming that the consumer protections in the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional.

These three pharmaceutical corporations, combined, made $217 billion in operating income over the last five years while spending between 5 and 11 times more on stock buybacks and dividend payments to investors than they paid in federal taxes.

Fight back against Big Pharma greed! Send a message now to the CEOs of Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, PhRMA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce demanding they drop their greedy lawsuit and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors.

This weekend is Medicare and Medicaid’s 58th birthday. Over the last 58 years, both programs have grown and improved, making healthcare more affordable and accessible for their recipients. And the additional improvements made last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act further strengthen Medicare for seniors and people with disabilities alike.

Take action to demand Big Pharma and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce drop their lawsuits and put patient health ahead of corporate profits.

Thank you for taking action today. Together we can fight back against the greed of Big Pharma that price gouges patients and dodges taxes, all to further enrich wealthy shareholders.

David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] Fortune/WSJ/10-K Profit & Tax Data, Americans for Tax Fairness