Prescription Drugs

Coalitions |Diversity in the Health Workforce | Access to Care | Diversity in Stem Cell Research | Prescription Drugs | Health Conferences

Prescription drug costs have increased by double digits in recent years,and all Californians are paying the price. Prescription drug coverage is shrinking, co-pays are rising, and communities of color face more difficulty paying for the medications that they need. The prescription drug project of Greenlining’s Bridges to Health Team works for the right of all Californians to have access to safe, effective, and affordable prescription drugs purchased in a fair and transparent marketplace.

The mission of the Bridges to Health Pharmaceutical Project is to empower communities of color and other disadvantaged groups to gain access to affordable prescription drugs available in a transparent marketplace, through leadership development, community education, advocacy of corporate responsibility, and strategic policy change.

Greenlining’s current efforts in this area include:

The OURx Coalition:
The Bridges to Health is a founding member of the OURx coalition, made up o
The Governor is shown pictured with Greenlining staff after the signing of AB2911, the Prescription Drug Discount Bill.
f senior, consumer rights, labor and health organizations which advocates for affordable prescription drugs purchased in a fair and transparent marketplace. Our recent work has included AB2911 the Prescription Drug Discount Program, AB51 the Medicare Part D Consumer Report Card and SB606 which will require pharmaceutical companies to disclose their clinical trials results for drugs sold in California. We look to continue our work with the coalition with the goal of introducing legislation sponsored by Greenlining in the upcoming legislative session.


• Working to promote legislative, electoral, and regulatory strategies to ensure that all people in California have access to reasonably priced prescription drugs.
  Most recently, we have worked with OURx Coalition-members to pass AB2911, California’s Prescription Drug Discount Bill which will enable the state to use the bargaining power of Medi-cal which is the largest purchaser of prescription drugs, to negotiate drug discounts for uninsured and underinsured Californians.
     
  
• Medicare Part D Alert:
  On January 1, 2006, the federal government transitioned 1.1 million low income seniors and disabled Californians into Medicare’s new prescription drug program (Part D), written by the pharmaceutical industry. The transition had an error rate of 20% leaving potentially 200,000 of the most vulnerable Californians without the medication they need. The Bridges to Health team is working to address the effects of Medicare Part D’s implementation on Part D beneficiaries, specifically on how they are addressing the needs of the Limited English Proficient community, as people of color are most often from this community.  We have completed our Medicare Part D Language Access study and will use this to develop legislation that will help to ensure that LEP seniors attain their prescription drugs.
   
  
• Developing mutually beneficial plans with major pharmaceutical companies to provide affordable prescription drugs to Californians.
  In an effort to gather data on the corporate practices of major pharmaceutical and biotech companies, both to hold these companies accountable to our communities and to offer win-win strategies on Public-Private Partnerships, Bridges to Health has established relationships with companies such as Pfizer, Amgen and Genentech.

OurX Coalition

Medicare Part D Alert

For more information, please contact:

Related Documents