Social media manager Piper says we've been extra quiet online lately because someone decided to pack the litterbox and move it.

Let’s do this.

Read my response in the New York Times to United Healthcare CEO's recent oped (second letter down in link) It's time for ALL of us to speak up, share our personal experiences & for advocates to network together to improve care. nytimes.com/2024/12/16/opi…

“We have a system that was in many ways designed by and for the insurance industry, thanks to its spending billions and billions of dollars lobbying lawmakers at the federal and state level, and pushing misleading talking points along the way.” #NYTLetters nyti.ms/41DA2c6

My Letter to the Editor published in the New York Times to United Healthcare CEO's recent oped. It's time for ALL of us to speak up, share our personal experiences & for advocates to network together to improve care.

"When pharmacies close, some customers simply stop taking vital medications. In a 2019 study of older adults taking cardiac drugs — such as statins, beta blockers and blood thinners — adherence to prescribed regimens dropped immediately among those whose pharmacies had closed,

And days after annual enrollment ended, leaving Medicare patients without access to their doctors. If consumers can only make insurance changes once a year why are insurers able to make changes year round?

Increase premiums, reduce care. I hate to say I told you thusly, but it’s the classic Aetna/CVS Caremark playbook. NC state employees deserve better. wunc.org/health/2025-01…

FTC to discuss PBM findings. Talk is good, but patients can’t keep waiting for action—from Congress or FTC. The facts are already abundant & clear. Nontransparent PBM profit maxing practices put patient lives at risk. As premium paying consumers, we deserve robust protections.

UnitedHealth Group and the other two health giants got around 12% of their total profits in 2021 by overcharging patients and employers for pharmaceuticals, according to the Federal Trade Commission. ftc.gov/news-events/ne…

I & many other patients with blood clots…especially those with cancer associated clots & pregnant women.…have taken enoxaparin. The generic is still wildly expensive of this life saving blood thinner. Now we learn PBMs profited from a dramatic mark ups ranging 100-1000%.

Some of you saw that Merck lowered the list price on their Type 2 diabetes drug Januvia by 42%. See below for prescription drug insurance/PBM that dropped the drug in Nov from the formulary/insurance coverage & is recommending a lesser known diabetes drug instead cc Antonio Ciaccia

⁉️Express Scripts "no longer has a media department." Did they all quit? "Since then, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, along with Express Scripts, have not provided coverage for the drug. 👉When I reached out to Anthem BCBS, a public relations director said the prescription

‼️NEW PETITION! Please sign and share our latest petition to the Department of Government Efficiency Department of Government Efficiency DOGE Subcommittee to stop allowing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) like OptumRx, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts from price gouging taxpayers, increasing drug prices,

Alarming. “It’s a six-month production cycle...So one can only assume that we’re not picking flu strains this year.”

.The Washington Post reported the American Society of Hematology “estimates 12 million hospitalized patients” use the drug heparin each year, and with its “key active ingredient” sourced in China, many are worried because of the Administration’s “tariff campaign.”

Proof retired seniors are not ‘choosing’ Medicare Advantage, they are being coerced by employers. This today from State of NC Health Plan:

I sooo told them thusly this contract would be trouble. 🤷🏻‍♀️ “The State Health Plan, part of the state Treasurer's Department, said in a news release it has reached an "untenable impasse" with CVS Caremark, accusing the company of refusing to honor its current contract.”

“Negotiations with Caremark have been unsuccessful….. The Plan is now evaluating its options to recover money owed and to determine its future relationship with Caremark.”

Is this the end of rivaroxaban for acute VTE? Lana Castellucci presenting the COBBRA trial - 1st RCT comparing apixaban to riva over 3 months. 56% reduction in bleeding risk with apixaban. A safer Rx with the same efficacy. #ISTH2025