“Mindy” Will Run on Digital Platforms Statewide
(CHARLESTON, WV) — Protect Our Care, WV held a virtual press conference Thursday to announce its first digital ad release in West Virginia as part of a seven-figure ad campaign about prescription drug prices. The ad features Mindy, a patient from Morgantown who is struggling to afford her insulin. In the ad, Mindy tells her personal story and relays the importance of giving Medicare the power to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices for all Americans.
The ad is part of The Campaign to Reduce Drug Prices, a grassroots and communications campaign calling for comprehensive legislation to lower drug prices. The ad will run on digital platforms, focusing particularly on older Americans, beginning on June 29. Protect Our Care will continue to run ads and host events both nationally and in 13 key states, including West Virginia, throughout the summer.
“Mindy’s story is all too familiar in West Virginia and across the country,” said Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse. “While drug companies are making record profits and raising the price of hundreds of drugs during the pandemic, millions of Americans are forced to choose between paying for the medicines they need to live or paying for food or rent. Drug companies raise the price of existing drugs like insulin year after year, with no reason other than that they can. It’s time for West Virginia lawmakers to do the right thing and support giving Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices. The time to act is now.”
“West Virginians are suffering and dying because of the high cost of prescription drugs,” said Mindy Salango, who is featured in the West Virginia ad. “Our elected officials work for us. We vote them in. We are their constituents. It takes less than two minutes to call your elected officials and tell them to support the American Families Plan and H.R.3. We have to let our elected officials know where we stand.”
“Over 430-Thousand West Virginians have foregone medications to pay for household bills and essential items – with recent polling showing that 74 percent of West Virginia residents say they are concerned about the cost of their medications,” said Dr. Jessica Ice, Executive Director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. “Millions of seniors, people living with disabilities, and families are struggling and in desperate need of federal legislation to negotiate drug prices. It’s disingenuous to suggest that pharmaceutical companies cannot conduct research and development with lower prescription drug costs. Taxpayers pay a large proportion of the research that is necessary to produce the drugs that help them live their healthiest life, so to deny a public good, funded by our government, without cost controls is unconscionable.”
Script for “Mindy” (:15):
I pay about $350 a month for all my supplies in order to keep my blood glucose under control.
The thought of not being able to afford my medication is terrifying.
It’s time for our leaders to act.
Script for “Mindy” (:30):
I didn’t even know diabetes ran in my family.
When I was first starting out as a diabetic, insulin generally would cost about $25 a month.
Now, I pay about $350 a month for all my supplies in order to keep my blood glucose under control.
The thought of not being able to afford my medication is terrifying.
West Virginians are suffering and dying because of high prescription drug costs.
It’s time for our leaders to act.
You can watch the press conference here, and learn more about how the Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) will make prescription drugs more affordable here.