Amy Klobuchar took to the floor of the United States Senate to discuss the outrageous spikes occurring in prescription drug prices:
Part 1:
Part 2:
From the speech:
We were privileged to have one of the families from Rhode Island, the home of the Presiding Officer, there with us at the hearing. Danielle Foltz was the mother who testified--I will never forget her story
about how her little baby is sick in the hospital, suddenly having spasms. These could actually have affected his brain. His name is Trevor. He is in the hospital and she tries to get the drug that helps with this, this Acthar. She found out it is about $1,700 per vial at the initial stages. That is what they thought it was going to be. Then what happens? Once it was sold to Questcor, when her little baby needed this drug, the price of the drug skyrocketed to $23,000 per vial--that is a 14-fold increase. This mom and dad are in the hospital with their little baby Trevor and this drug has gone up to $23,000 per vial. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think the insurance company, when they used to pay for it when it was $1,700, was going to say: Oh, no problem. They had to negotiate for 5 days with the insurance companies, they had to get their neurologist involved, and she had to write a letter saying that this is going to affect this baby's life, the baby could be mentally retarded if he doesn't get the drug. It is actually a short-term treatment. I think the baby had the drug for a matter of months and then went off the drug--talk about short-sighted. Eventually, after 5 days, she was able to get the drug approved.
These people were missionaries in Africa. They had worked in Africa. They didn't have the money, they didn't have the house to mortgage, but they were able to save their little baby's life because finally they fought hard enough to get it covered.
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