Health Care

By signing this petition, you are literally saving Zahra’s life.  Zahra, a 6 years old girl, has been diagnosed with a rare disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy ("SMA"), which is a terminal, degenerative disease, that takes away a child’s ability to walk, stand, sit, eat, breathe, and even swallow.  SMA is the most common genetic cause of infant death. HOWEVER, a new medication, SPINRAZA, not only can stop the disease, it will restore the previous degeneration. Unfortunately, Spinraza is VERY expensive, costing $750,000 USD! Without Spinraza, Zahra will die.  All you have to do in order to help Zahra is to simply sign this petition requesting Biogen, the company which makes SPINRAZA, to ease Zahra's access to this medication by either reducing the price or any other way possible to save her life.  Zahra's family is working hard to save their little one, but without this drug nothing will save Zahra. To learn more about Zahra and her story, and the ways you can donate to save her life, please click on the link below:  http://savezahrad.ir/ Dear Biogen company, please gift Zahra the compassionate use of Spinraza or at lower prices before it is too late. Please support Zahra's family so that this little girl can start her treatment as soon as possible. No kid in this world deserves to be left to gradually or eventually die. Please help saving Zahra's life.    

My son, received a life saving liver transplant at the age of 2. His life depends on the potency and effectiveness of chemotherapy/immune suppression medications. In the past mail order delivered his liquid oral medications in nothing but a plastic envelope on a 102 degree day on a hot enclosed not temperature controlled UPS truck. Shortly after, he went into liver rejection which could have resulted in complete liver failure or death. I speculated that the medication could have been too weak after the delivery of medications in high heat. I vowed to never again risk his life with mail order pharmacy. Recently, we were mandated/forced to only use mail order pharmacy in order to receive coverage for his life saving medications. Hesitant, I begged for an ice pack. The package arrived on an about 90 degree day again without an ice pack. His labs elevated again afterwards. My son wants to know, "Why would they do that?" I contacted the manufacturer, who completes all of the testing for my son drugs who stated that both of my son's medications should be discarded and considered less potent once stored above 86 degrees as higher temperatures and freezing could result in lower potency. I also found out that the liquid medication that the youngest children take are the most harmed by the mishandling of medications outside of the manufactures temperature storage guidelines. Our youngest of children's lives are being threatened.  I contacted the mail order pharmacy who refused to take replace or take back the medication. They said the law & USP Pharmacopoeia allows them to ship up to 104 degrees, although the manufacturer states it is not proven safe at these temperatures.  I contacted the FDA, who states that the mail order pharmacy should be using the manufacturer's guidelines that have been proven safe. Not the reference range by USP that has not tested my son's exact medication. However since the mail order pharmacies are regulated loosley by the State Board of Pharmacy, not the FDA there was nothing that the FDA could do.  I spoke with a UPS driver. He states temperatures on his truck are far above 104 degrees on a 90 degree day. He is mandated to keep his door closed unless getting a package. He states it gets so hot on a 90 degree day that he cannot breathe when he opens the back.  I made over 30 calls to the insurance company begging for them to please let us pick my son's medications up at the local pharmacy at which they are filled. My son's physician wrote a note/appeal as his transplant team has stated that they have tried to voice their concerns about this issue with their pediatric/child patients and no one is listening! The insurance company still denied the doctor's appeal for us to pick up my son's medications in the safest way. It was not until the Media became evolved that the insurance company budged.  I felt helpless and have untied with many other pharmacist, physicians, patients, mothers and fathers, and caregivers who feel the same way. Helpless. Mail order of prescription drugs should be a choice not the only option of coverage. Mandatory mail order programs from all plan types (INCLUDING the plans that are regulated by ERISA) needs to cease until mail order pharmacies are forced to store and monitor medications during their deliveries at the temperatures tested and proven safe by the manufacturer. I would never put my son's medications in a hot non-temperature controlled environment, and shoudn't be forced to only use this option in order to get coverage for his life saving medications. Mail order pharmacies may appear to save money, but when my son ended up in the hosptial after taking medications that could have been compromised by having lower potency, the cost of the rejection was thousands of dollars. If his liver would have fully failed, the cost of his liver transplant for just 5 days (he was in the hospital for 5 weeks) was over $1,000,000. The lax regulation and oversight may save money on prescription drug plans, but may come at an increased cost to the health plan itself. Also, keep in mind the endless waste of medications that automatically are sent regardless of whether or not patients need them. Also, people with chronic, complex conditions, should always have the option of face to face interaction with a pharmacist who knows their complex needs and medical history. Could you imagine being required to go to a different doctor every time you needed medical care for you or your family? The pharmacist and patient relationship is crucial to the successful outcome of the patient's overall health. Taking this away is harmful to patients and be more costly to our already stressed healthcare system. Another important fact. Mandatory mail order programs are discriminatory. It is estimated that 40% of our homeless are disabled. How is mandatory mail order fair and working for them as they may not have an address and not even know where they will be from day to day? We need legislation to protect all patients by ending the mandatory mail order pharmacy coverage in every type of plan offered in the nation.  We need your help to make mandatory mail order an option not a mandate. YOUR URGENT SUPPORT WILL SAVE LIVES! THANK YOU!!

Please sign this petition for my mom, who needs these treatments approved by CIGNA to continue her fight! In October 2017, my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. I remember the day like it was yesterday, and mostly I remember thinking how these next few months were going to be the hardest fight of her life. I was so wrong.  This past year, my mom underwent endless months of chemotherapy only to discover the cancer was still spreading a few weeks ago. Finally, after genetic testing, it was recently discovered that my moms specific type of colon cancer has six genetic mutations. Ultimately meaning it is unresponsive to chemotherapy and will continue to spread.  In August 2018, "The US Food and Drug Administration granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for Braftovi (encorafenib), in combination with Mektovi (binimetinib) and cetuximab, intended to expedite development and review of drugs for serious conditions, where preliminary clinical evidence indicates that they may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies. The designation, granted to US biotech firm Array BioPharma (Nasdaq: ARRY), is for the treatment of patients with BRAFV600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) as detected by an FDA-approved test, after failure of one to two prior lines of therapy for metastatic disease. BRAFV600E-mutant mCRC patients have a mortality risk more than double that of mCRC patients without the mutation, and currently there are no therapies specifically approved for this high unmet need population." *** The above three treatments were prescribed by both my mom's current doctor and a doctor seen from Memorial Sloan Kettering while seeking a second opinion. TO DATE, CIGNA HAS NOT APPROVED THE DRUGS! CURRENTLY LEAVING MY MOM UNTREATED FOR THE PAST FOUR WEEKS. These two pills (Braftovi and Mektovi) cost $22,000 a month, something we simply, can not afford to maintain.   TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE AND THE DOCTORS HAVE CLEARLY STATED SHE NEEDS TO START TREATMENT ASAP! Fighting for the insurance to approve a life saving drug(s) should not be part of any patients struggle. Your signatures mean the world to my family! On behalf of my mom, Muriel Conway, (who has no idea I am doing this), Thank you!  Brynn Conway   

Since 2011, 3D mammograms have been FDA approved and are covered by federal health insurance programs such as Medicare, as well as by many commercial insurance companies; HOWEVER, women who have Tricare insurance (veterans and dependents) are not covered. As a mammographer, I often hear how a breast cancer was caught because of 3D mammography. As the wife of a veteran, I feel this technology should be a part of basic health care available to all service women. Help me make this change for our veterans and military dependents.  A screening 2D mammogram consists of 4 “flat” images. A screening 3D mammogram typically averages hundreds of images and allows the provider to look through the entire breast in 1mm increments. The attached Hologic video has a good explanation (I am not affiliated nor specifically endorse this company)