Congress, Subpoena David Ricks, Doug Langa, Lars Jorgensen and Olivier Brandicourt
Congress, Subpoena David Ricks, Doug Langa, Lars Jorgensen and Olivier Brandicourt
The Issue
Insulin prices have skyrocketed over the last 10 years. Congress & the Senate have to subpoena the CEO's of Eli Lilly, NovoNordisk and Sanofi to come to Washington, D.C. to be transparent about the high costs of insulin in America. Laws need to be written to keep them from charging outrageous prices that made insulin unaffordable and inaccessible to people that may have a high deductible healthcare plan or inadequate insurance coverage and don't qualify for financial assistance programs. Having no access to affordable insulin can lead to rationing insulin and lead to death. Without insulin, you die. Insulin should be accessible like water and bread is. Insulin should be available without a prescription, like it is in foreign countries. A bottle of insulin in America costs $324.00. The same bottle can be purchased in Canada for $45.97 and Mexico for $30.00. Americans are paying for the rest of the world to get cheap or affordable insulin. Americans are paying for the high salaries of CEOs on every level of the supply chain. Until they are held accountable, change won't come and profits will continue to be more important than people's lives. Insulin has been around for almost 100 years. It's time to make insulin affordable for all. #insulin4all. Nicole Smith-Holt's story about her son dying from rationing insulin. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mother-fights-for-lower-insulin-prices-after-sons-tragic-death/
https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-pharma-companies-game-the-system-to-keep-drugs-expensive
2-21-19 The GREAT LIFE JUICE........................https://diabeticdadruns.com/2019/02/08/the-great-life-juice-scandal-why-i-paid-to-ship-insulin-across-the-world-to-a-stranger/ 2-6-19 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lilly-results/eli-lilly-backs-u-s-proposal-on-drug-rebates-to-lower-costs-idUSKCN1PV196 Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday embraced a U.S. government proposal to end a decades-old system of rebates drugmakers make to industry middlemen, saying it could lower the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for patients.
Lilly, along with other major insulin makers, Sanofi SA and Novo Nordisk, has been under mounting pressure from patients and politicians over the rising cost of the life-sustaining diabetes treatment.
“While it’s still a proposal, we see this as ... a win for patients, lowering their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter with the greatest benefit realized by patients taking more highly-rebated products such as insulin,” Chief Executive David Ricks said on a call with analysts.
Drugmakers argue they have to keep prices high because of the rebates they must pay to pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers to get products on their lists of covered drugs. In January, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a rule that would end the rebate system or pass along the savings to patients.
“We’ll adapt to whatever rules come out and how they get finalized,” Ricks said.
Lilly on Wednesday also cut its 2019 profit and revenue forecasts to account for disappearing sales of its cancer drug Lartruvo, which won conditional U.S. approval in 2016 based on early data but last month failed to extend patient survival a confirmatory trial. Costs related to Lilly’s pending $8 billion acquisition of Loxo Oncology also contributed to the revised forecast.
Lilly has said it is suspending promotion of Lartruvo and it will no longer be prescribe to new U.S. patients.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker’s research and development spending is also expected to rise as it develops Loxo’s pipeline of targeted drugs for cancers driven by rare genetic mutations.
The company said it now expects 2019 adjusted earnings of $5.55 to $5.65 per share, down from its prior forecast of $5.90 to $6.00. It expects revenue of $25.1 billion to $25.6 billion versus its prior view of $25.3 billion to $25.8 billion.
“The forecast cut was generally expected, given the Loxo acquisition and the Lartruvo failure were known events,” Edward Jones analyst Ashtyn Evans said.
“Diabetes will always be an area where we’ll see pricing pressure. Lilly fully takes that into consideration when giving guidance,” she added.
Excluding items, Lilly earned $1.33 per share, a penny shy of analysts’ average estimate, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Eli Lilly shares fell 1.3 percent to $118.82............................................................................................................................2-15-19 ......................https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/insulin-overpricing/pressrelease/insulin-overpricing-judge-denies-insulin-makers-motion-to-dismiss-class-action-lawsuit-regarding-skyrocketing-insulin-prices,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..............................................................................................................2-11-19 https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/01/31/robert-f-kennedy-jr-explains-how-big-pharma-completely-owns-congress/
https://www.telegram.com/news/20190209/area-families-of-diabetics-fight-soaring-cost-of-insulin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwtsrRyjFUA&feature=youtu.be
2-9-19 https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/09/elijah-cummings-sparred-with-pharma-and-now-he-has-a-gavel/ 2-9-19 https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/type1diabetes/72771 from May 2018.........................2-9-19 https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/04/congress-wants-these-7-drug-company-ceos-to-testify-about-prices/
2-5-19 Bernie Sanders' plans for lower drug rices https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-pharma-companies-game-the-system-to-keep-drugs-expensive https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sweeping-plan-to-lower-drug-prices-introduced-in-senate-and-house
2-3-19 Billionaires take on big pharma https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-billionaire-couple-is-taking-on-big-pharma-to-lower-your-prescription-drug-prices-1434124867858
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt showing the people going over the Mexican border that paid less than $900 for diabetes supplies and would have paid more than $8500 in the U.S.
https://www.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/posts/10157298084853689
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1087813402553184256
https://www.t1international.com/blog/2018/08/16/crossing-borders-afford-insulin/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SnKOgb4le4
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/10/28/fight-high-drug-prices/
https://apnews.com/56f383814d124b53a59a8dc044bcbfa1 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eli-lilly-to-spend-about-8-billion-on-loxo-oncology/
Grassley said drugmakers have been cool to his requests to testify in public before the panel.
“I want to express my displeasure at the lack of cooperation from the pharmaceutical manufacturers,” he said.
Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said Finance won’t hesitate to use its subpoena power.
The Honorable Ron Wyden
Ranking Member
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Note: Due to security precautions taken by the U.S. Senate, outside mail is delayed 7-10 days; therefore, whenever possible, you may also consider faxing your letter(s) to 202-228-0554.
1-31-19 From the Oversight Committee Meeting held on 1-29-19 https://local12.com/news/local/cost-of-living-local-mother-tells-congress-about-losing-daughter-who-rationed-insulin
WASHINGTON (WKRC) - U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings paused and looked at those with bi-partisan interests surrounding him.
“Listen up,” he said.
Cummings, the chair of the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the first witness for the 2019 hearings. It wasn’t a well-known politician, a high-powered lawyer or a celebrity. It was a mother from Cincinnati with pain turned into passion.
Antroinette Worsham is the mother of 22-year-old, Antavia, who died when she rationed her insulin. Worsham’s tragedy was the center of Local 12’s investigation in November on the skyrocketing price of insulin.
“Antavia was diagnosed at the age of 16 and only lived six years with this disease due to the high cost of insulin,” Worsham said Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Her 18-year-old daughter Antanique is diabetic too and will soon face the same struggle as her older sister. Antanique will be too old to receive coverage from the Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH), an Ohio program that provides aid to those with disabilities and other medical conditions.
“I fear the same is going to happen to her in two years,” Worsham said of her youngest daughter.
On Tuesday, Worsham addressed the nation, talking about both daughters and calling on Congress to act.
“I’m crying out and asking Congress to review the pharmaceutical drug price gouging,” she said.
Members of the committee did express support for reining in the out-of-control costs.
“The ongoing escalation of prices by drug companies is simply unsustainable,” Cummings said. “This is a matter of literally life and death and we have the duty to act now.”
When type 1 diabetics ration or stop taking their insulin, it can cause them to go into diabetic ketoacidosis, a buildup of acid in the blood that can be, and often is, fatal. That’s what happened to Antavia when her brother found her in her bed with an empty insulin pen.
The mother from Cincinnati went to Washington with a simple plea.
“I know there’s rules and there’s regulations and there’s policies, but we want to save more lives,” Worsham said, fighting tears. “It can be done and you are the people to make it happen.”
One in four patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes reported using less insulin than prescribed due to high costs, according to a study published in December by researchers at Yale University.
“We’ve seen time after time that drug companies make money hand-over-fist by raising the prices of their drugs, often without justification and sometimes overnight while patients are left holding the bill,” Cummings said.
Cummings quoted figures during his opening statement to the committee that 14 drug companies made more than $1 billion in profits just in the third quarter of 2018.
“Let me be clear: There are powerful interests here that do not want us to interfere with those massive profits,” he said. “But there is a strong bipartisan consensus that we must do something, something meaningful, to rein in the out-of-control price increases.”
It’s unclear whether Congress can come up with a real plan to stop the soaring increases, but committee members do say there is bipartisan support to end soaring prices that have already cost too many lives.______________________________________________________________ Misdiagnosed diabetes considered constipation. Jack Dunn had complained about having stomach pain. Medical personnel did not dig deep enough to find out the real underlying reason for Jack’s “constipation issues” probably if they did they would have found out that the young boy was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis. https://www.jumblejoy.com/young-man-diagnosed-constipation-passes-away-just-one-day-later
Senator Stabenow speaks on high costs of healthcare. Aug 21, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8W6B31K_YI&feature=youtu.be
Why drug prices are so expensive in America........short Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qPWCY9RXdM
The Hooley Family........son Dillon rationing insulin http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2019/01/rising-insulin-costs-are-a-life-or-death-political-crisis.html
Minnesota Roundtable with Sen. Matt Little http://mnsenate.granicus.com/player/clip/3053?view_id=1&fbclid=IwAR3IV3z6N3g53um0D3bfLLcKRpSHr6liy0e5DzRlo6jBWfjaC7yFawVRCDk https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/01/641615877/insulins-high-cost-leads-to-lethal-rationing
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2018/09/25/insulin-prices-profits-diabetes/
The United States Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five, which consisted of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. It was then further edited and adopted by the Committee of the Whole of the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.[2][3] The second paragraph of the first article in the Declaration of Independence contains the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
Jefferson's "original Rough draught" is on exhibit in the Library of Congress.[4] This version was used by Julian Boyd to create a transcript of Jefferson's draft,[5] which reads:
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ...
The Committee of Five edited Jefferson's draft. Their version survived further edits by the whole Congress intact, and reads:[6]
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ——
Patrick Henry: Give me Liberty or Give me Death..........WE MUST FIGHT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHo-3LEcgQE
On March 31st, 1968, just four days before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the following brief speech. As peaceful demonstrators on Wall Street stand up to the wrongfully legal oppression and outright class warfare being waged against the middle class and poor of America, Dr. King’s words resonate deeply once again. Below is the full text of that speech.
*
Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome.
You know, I’ve joined hands so often with students and others behind jail bars singing it, We shall overcome.
Sometimes we’ve had tears in our eyes when we joined together to sing it, but we still decided to sing it, We shall overcome. Oh, before this victory’s won, some will have to get
thrown in jail some more, but we shall overcome.
Don’t worry about us. Before the victory’s won, some of us will lose jobs, but we shall overcome.
Before the victory’s won, even some will have to face physical death. But if physical
death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent
psychological death, then nothing shall be more redemptive.
Before the victory’s won, some will be misunderstood and called bad names, dismissed as rabble rousers and agitators, but we shall overcome.
We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.
We shall overcome because Carlyle is right, “No lie can live forever.”
We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right: Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future and behind the dim
unknown standeth God within the shadows keeping watch above his own.
We shall overcome because the Bible is right, “You shall reap what you sow”
We shall overcome.
Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome.
And with this faith we will go out and adjourn the counsels of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism and we will be able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. And this will be a great America! We will be the participants in making it so.
And so as I leave you this evening I say, Walk together children! Don’t
you get weary!
The song WE SHALL OVERCOMEhttps:https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-billionaire-couple-is-taking-on-big-pharma-to-lower-your-prescription-drug-prices-1434124867858
//www.goodrx.com/blog/heres-why-insulin-is-so-expensive-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/23/health/phrma-lobbying-costs-bn/https:
21,484
The Issue
Insulin prices have skyrocketed over the last 10 years. Congress & the Senate have to subpoena the CEO's of Eli Lilly, NovoNordisk and Sanofi to come to Washington, D.C. to be transparent about the high costs of insulin in America. Laws need to be written to keep them from charging outrageous prices that made insulin unaffordable and inaccessible to people that may have a high deductible healthcare plan or inadequate insurance coverage and don't qualify for financial assistance programs. Having no access to affordable insulin can lead to rationing insulin and lead to death. Without insulin, you die. Insulin should be accessible like water and bread is. Insulin should be available without a prescription, like it is in foreign countries. A bottle of insulin in America costs $324.00. The same bottle can be purchased in Canada for $45.97 and Mexico for $30.00. Americans are paying for the rest of the world to get cheap or affordable insulin. Americans are paying for the high salaries of CEOs on every level of the supply chain. Until they are held accountable, change won't come and profits will continue to be more important than people's lives. Insulin has been around for almost 100 years. It's time to make insulin affordable for all. #insulin4all. Nicole Smith-Holt's story about her son dying from rationing insulin. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mother-fights-for-lower-insulin-prices-after-sons-tragic-death/
https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-pharma-companies-game-the-system-to-keep-drugs-expensive
2-21-19 The GREAT LIFE JUICE........................https://diabeticdadruns.com/2019/02/08/the-great-life-juice-scandal-why-i-paid-to-ship-insulin-across-the-world-to-a-stranger/ 2-6-19 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lilly-results/eli-lilly-backs-u-s-proposal-on-drug-rebates-to-lower-costs-idUSKCN1PV196 Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday embraced a U.S. government proposal to end a decades-old system of rebates drugmakers make to industry middlemen, saying it could lower the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for patients.
Lilly, along with other major insulin makers, Sanofi SA and Novo Nordisk, has been under mounting pressure from patients and politicians over the rising cost of the life-sustaining diabetes treatment.
“While it’s still a proposal, we see this as ... a win for patients, lowering their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter with the greatest benefit realized by patients taking more highly-rebated products such as insulin,” Chief Executive David Ricks said on a call with analysts.
Drugmakers argue they have to keep prices high because of the rebates they must pay to pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers to get products on their lists of covered drugs. In January, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a rule that would end the rebate system or pass along the savings to patients.
“We’ll adapt to whatever rules come out and how they get finalized,” Ricks said.
Lilly on Wednesday also cut its 2019 profit and revenue forecasts to account for disappearing sales of its cancer drug Lartruvo, which won conditional U.S. approval in 2016 based on early data but last month failed to extend patient survival a confirmatory trial. Costs related to Lilly’s pending $8 billion acquisition of Loxo Oncology also contributed to the revised forecast.
Lilly has said it is suspending promotion of Lartruvo and it will no longer be prescribe to new U.S. patients.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker’s research and development spending is also expected to rise as it develops Loxo’s pipeline of targeted drugs for cancers driven by rare genetic mutations.
The company said it now expects 2019 adjusted earnings of $5.55 to $5.65 per share, down from its prior forecast of $5.90 to $6.00. It expects revenue of $25.1 billion to $25.6 billion versus its prior view of $25.3 billion to $25.8 billion.
“The forecast cut was generally expected, given the Loxo acquisition and the Lartruvo failure were known events,” Edward Jones analyst Ashtyn Evans said.
“Diabetes will always be an area where we’ll see pricing pressure. Lilly fully takes that into consideration when giving guidance,” she added.
Excluding items, Lilly earned $1.33 per share, a penny shy of analysts’ average estimate, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Eli Lilly shares fell 1.3 percent to $118.82............................................................................................................................2-15-19 ......................https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/insulin-overpricing/pressrelease/insulin-overpricing-judge-denies-insulin-makers-motion-to-dismiss-class-action-lawsuit-regarding-skyrocketing-insulin-prices,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..............................................................................................................2-11-19 https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/01/31/robert-f-kennedy-jr-explains-how-big-pharma-completely-owns-congress/
https://www.telegram.com/news/20190209/area-families-of-diabetics-fight-soaring-cost-of-insulin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwtsrRyjFUA&feature=youtu.be
2-9-19 https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/09/elijah-cummings-sparred-with-pharma-and-now-he-has-a-gavel/ 2-9-19 https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/type1diabetes/72771 from May 2018.........................2-9-19 https://www.statnews.com/2019/02/04/congress-wants-these-7-drug-company-ceos-to-testify-about-prices/
2-5-19 Bernie Sanders' plans for lower drug rices https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-pharma-companies-game-the-system-to-keep-drugs-expensive https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sweeping-plan-to-lower-drug-prices-introduced-in-senate-and-house
2-3-19 Billionaires take on big pharma https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-billionaire-couple-is-taking-on-big-pharma-to-lower-your-prescription-drug-prices-1434124867858
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt showing the people going over the Mexican border that paid less than $900 for diabetes supplies and would have paid more than $8500 in the U.S.
https://www.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/posts/10157298084853689
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1087813402553184256
https://www.t1international.com/blog/2018/08/16/crossing-borders-afford-insulin/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SnKOgb4le4
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/10/28/fight-high-drug-prices/
https://apnews.com/56f383814d124b53a59a8dc044bcbfa1 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eli-lilly-to-spend-about-8-billion-on-loxo-oncology/
Grassley said drugmakers have been cool to his requests to testify in public before the panel.
“I want to express my displeasure at the lack of cooperation from the pharmaceutical manufacturers,” he said.
Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said Finance won’t hesitate to use its subpoena power.
The Honorable Ron Wyden
Ranking Member
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Note: Due to security precautions taken by the U.S. Senate, outside mail is delayed 7-10 days; therefore, whenever possible, you may also consider faxing your letter(s) to 202-228-0554.
1-31-19 From the Oversight Committee Meeting held on 1-29-19 https://local12.com/news/local/cost-of-living-local-mother-tells-congress-about-losing-daughter-who-rationed-insulin
WASHINGTON (WKRC) - U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings paused and looked at those with bi-partisan interests surrounding him.
“Listen up,” he said.
Cummings, the chair of the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the first witness for the 2019 hearings. It wasn’t a well-known politician, a high-powered lawyer or a celebrity. It was a mother from Cincinnati with pain turned into passion.
Antroinette Worsham is the mother of 22-year-old, Antavia, who died when she rationed her insulin. Worsham’s tragedy was the center of Local 12’s investigation in November on the skyrocketing price of insulin.
“Antavia was diagnosed at the age of 16 and only lived six years with this disease due to the high cost of insulin,” Worsham said Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Her 18-year-old daughter Antanique is diabetic too and will soon face the same struggle as her older sister. Antanique will be too old to receive coverage from the Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH), an Ohio program that provides aid to those with disabilities and other medical conditions.
“I fear the same is going to happen to her in two years,” Worsham said of her youngest daughter.
On Tuesday, Worsham addressed the nation, talking about both daughters and calling on Congress to act.
“I’m crying out and asking Congress to review the pharmaceutical drug price gouging,” she said.
Members of the committee did express support for reining in the out-of-control costs.
“The ongoing escalation of prices by drug companies is simply unsustainable,” Cummings said. “This is a matter of literally life and death and we have the duty to act now.”
When type 1 diabetics ration or stop taking their insulin, it can cause them to go into diabetic ketoacidosis, a buildup of acid in the blood that can be, and often is, fatal. That’s what happened to Antavia when her brother found her in her bed with an empty insulin pen.
The mother from Cincinnati went to Washington with a simple plea.
“I know there’s rules and there’s regulations and there’s policies, but we want to save more lives,” Worsham said, fighting tears. “It can be done and you are the people to make it happen.”
One in four patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes reported using less insulin than prescribed due to high costs, according to a study published in December by researchers at Yale University.
“We’ve seen time after time that drug companies make money hand-over-fist by raising the prices of their drugs, often without justification and sometimes overnight while patients are left holding the bill,” Cummings said.
Cummings quoted figures during his opening statement to the committee that 14 drug companies made more than $1 billion in profits just in the third quarter of 2018.
“Let me be clear: There are powerful interests here that do not want us to interfere with those massive profits,” he said. “But there is a strong bipartisan consensus that we must do something, something meaningful, to rein in the out-of-control price increases.”
It’s unclear whether Congress can come up with a real plan to stop the soaring increases, but committee members do say there is bipartisan support to end soaring prices that have already cost too many lives.______________________________________________________________ Misdiagnosed diabetes considered constipation. Jack Dunn had complained about having stomach pain. Medical personnel did not dig deep enough to find out the real underlying reason for Jack’s “constipation issues” probably if they did they would have found out that the young boy was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis. https://www.jumblejoy.com/young-man-diagnosed-constipation-passes-away-just-one-day-later
Senator Stabenow speaks on high costs of healthcare. Aug 21, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8W6B31K_YI&feature=youtu.be
Why drug prices are so expensive in America........short Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qPWCY9RXdM
The Hooley Family........son Dillon rationing insulin http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2019/01/rising-insulin-costs-are-a-life-or-death-political-crisis.html
Minnesota Roundtable with Sen. Matt Little http://mnsenate.granicus.com/player/clip/3053?view_id=1&fbclid=IwAR3IV3z6N3g53um0D3bfLLcKRpSHr6liy0e5DzRlo6jBWfjaC7yFawVRCDk https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/01/641615877/insulins-high-cost-leads-to-lethal-rationing
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2018/09/25/insulin-prices-profits-diabetes/
The United States Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five, which consisted of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. It was then further edited and adopted by the Committee of the Whole of the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.[2][3] The second paragraph of the first article in the Declaration of Independence contains the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
Jefferson's "original Rough draught" is on exhibit in the Library of Congress.[4] This version was used by Julian Boyd to create a transcript of Jefferson's draft,[5] which reads:
We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ...
The Committee of Five edited Jefferson's draft. Their version survived further edits by the whole Congress intact, and reads:[6]
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ——
Patrick Henry: Give me Liberty or Give me Death..........WE MUST FIGHT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHo-3LEcgQE
On March 31st, 1968, just four days before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the following brief speech. As peaceful demonstrators on Wall Street stand up to the wrongfully legal oppression and outright class warfare being waged against the middle class and poor of America, Dr. King’s words resonate deeply once again. Below is the full text of that speech.
*
Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome.
You know, I’ve joined hands so often with students and others behind jail bars singing it, We shall overcome.
Sometimes we’ve had tears in our eyes when we joined together to sing it, but we still decided to sing it, We shall overcome. Oh, before this victory’s won, some will have to get
thrown in jail some more, but we shall overcome.
Don’t worry about us. Before the victory’s won, some of us will lose jobs, but we shall overcome.
Before the victory’s won, even some will have to face physical death. But if physical
death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent
psychological death, then nothing shall be more redemptive.
Before the victory’s won, some will be misunderstood and called bad names, dismissed as rabble rousers and agitators, but we shall overcome.
We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.
We shall overcome because Carlyle is right, “No lie can live forever.”
We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right: Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future and behind the dim
unknown standeth God within the shadows keeping watch above his own.
We shall overcome because the Bible is right, “You shall reap what you sow”
We shall overcome.
Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome.
And with this faith we will go out and adjourn the counsels of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism and we will be able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. And this will be a great America! We will be the participants in making it so.
And so as I leave you this evening I say, Walk together children! Don’t
you get weary!
The song WE SHALL OVERCOMEhttps:https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-billionaire-couple-is-taking-on-big-pharma-to-lower-your-prescription-drug-prices-1434124867858
//www.goodrx.com/blog/heres-why-insulin-is-so-expensive-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/23/health/phrma-lobbying-costs-bn/https:
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on January 30, 2019