Dear Friend,

More than 1.25 million people in the U.S. suffer from Type 1 diabetes,
which requires insulin to treat.(1)

Predatory pharmaceutical companies have doubled the cost of insulin in the
last six years, and now one in four diabetics admit to rationing the
life-saving medicine to save money -- a decision that costs many their
lives.(2)

The House of Representatives is considering H.R. 3, a bill to reduce drug
prices and help us afford the medications we need. But if this bill is
going to pass through Congress, we're going to need to show huge
grassroots support.

[ [link removed] ]Click here to tell Congress to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of
2019 and help stop skyrocketing prescription prices in the U.S.

Insulin is one of the oldest prescription medications, and the patent was
sold to a university for just three dollars in the 1920s.

But drug companies manipulated the system, and in 2003, they started
jacking up the price of insulin. Now diabetics pay nearly $6,000 a year
for the lifesaving drug.(3)

The drug is so expensive that diabetics are trying to stretch out their
supplies, putting their health in danger.

In 2018, Meghan Carter, a nurse waiting for a new job with health
insurance to start, died of diabetic shock due to rationing her insulin --
and that's just one of many similar stories.(4)

It's not just insulin. Martin Shkreli made national news when he bought
the patent for the EpiPen -- a medicine that helps people in anaphylactic
shock due to an allergic reaction -- and upped the price 500%.(5) In
general, prices for medications have gone up 9.5% a year, triple the rate
of inflation.(6)

These exploding prices have translated into 25% of patients taking less of
their medications than prescribed in order to save money.(7)

The Lower Drug Costs Now Act would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices
with the power of the government behind it -- and then make pharmaceutical
companies offer that same price to the public. It would lower the price of
critically important medications, and we need both the House and the
Senate to pass this bill right away.

[ [link removed] ]Will you join our call to Congress to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act
of 2019 and help stop predatory drug prices in the U.S.?

Yours in the fight for healthcare,

Mary, along with Analeeza, Annie, Brian, Caitlin, Deepthi, Eddie, Gabby,
Lindsay, Molly, Phillip, Raquel, Scottie, and Tai (the Courage Campaign
team)

Footnotes:
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Courage Campaign is an online organizing network that empowers more than 1.4 million grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country.

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