Final signature count: 14,979

14,979 signatures toward our 50,000 goal

In 2015, America was outraged as the cost of a little-known drug called Daraprim skyrocketed overnight from $13.50 to $750 a pill1. In 2016, the ubiquitous allergy medicine Epi-Pen rose from $100 to $600 in an instant2.

Why? Profit.

These scandals are just two examples of a pervasive problem with American healthcare, which allows pharmaceutical companies to set prices as they see fit with a patchwork system of insurance providers. There are no restrictions of profit margins3. There is little transparency in the pricing process.

The result? Americans pay more for prescription drugs than any other nation in the world4.

In most European countries, single-payer health systems use their size to negotiate big discounts5, but the United States does not have a similar program and the Affordable Care Act did nothing to rein in the costs of prescription drugs when it was passed6.

Clearly, something needs to change. When the price of lifesaving drugs suddenly goes from affordable to exorbitant, people deserve to understand why.

When the VA is allowed to negotiate directly with drug companies but Medicare is not7, Medicare ends up with a deal that’s better for the pharmaceutical companies than the people Medicare serves.

Two changes to current American policy would go a long way to ensuring pharmaceutical companies don’t exploit the sick:

1. Require drug-makers to justify the costs of their treatments and disclose major price hikes.
2. Repeal the noninterference clause of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 which prevents Medicare, the single largest payer for health care in the U.S., from negotiating directly with drug companies.

The American public shouldn’t be expected to pad the pocketbooks of wealthy pharmaceutical executives! Lives are on the line.

Sign the petition ask the Department of Health and Human Services to enact these changes which would be a good start to controlling out-of-control drug prices in the United States.