TAKING ACTION IN NYC

WHAT: "Pharma Greed Kills" Protest
WHEN: Sun 3/3 at 11AM
WHERE: Outside Pfizer HQ at 235 E42nd St near 2nd Ave
FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/943019352755598/
DIRECTIONS: Take the 4,5,6,7 to 42nd St Grand Central

The 5 lines above encapsulate weeks and weeks of organizing and planning, much of it by ZOOM conference call. To anybody who is not comatose, the need for action fairly screams, for with its sky-rocketing prices, Big Pharma is getting away with MURDER. People are dying, and Pharma doesn't care, so long as the stockholders are happy. And no Pharmaceutical  maker epitomizes Big Pharma's ruthless greed as does Pfizer, so that's where we are going.

I say "we", because I am honored to play a very small part in it. Although there are many placards available, in last night's ZOOM call the need was expressed for more. Since I own a 13X19 printer,  I came up with a placard:

One of the participants in this action will be the Campaign for The New York Health Act  (NYHA) -- which will guarantee healthcare for everyone who lives in New York State. How will NYHA "de-fang" Big Pharma?  Right now, through its "PDP" program, New York State is able to get a 30 percent discount for  volume purchases for some 2 million people -- a subset of the state's Medicaid population. When NYHA is in place, this "PDP" law -- which can be applied generally -- will enable the state to have the additional bargaining muscle of ordering for 10 times that population -- some 20 million people, which should enable it to enjoy a discount far greater than 30%. So our State will deal with Big Pharma for us, thus keeping Big Pharma's fangs far from our necks, so to speak. 

Melodramatic? It may seem so to those who are so rich that they don't have to worry about drug costs. But most of us are haunted by fears of  contracting a chronic disease for which the medications might bankrupt us -- if we could afford them at all. 

By now, many of us have heard that 1 out of every four patients cannot afford their medications. So long as we are among the 3 who can, the statistic might disturb us -- fleetingly.

But for the 25% who cannot, the reality is dreadful. A few days ago in the New Yorker, there appeared an article giving a sense of what those people have to face.

Living With Type 1 Diabetes When You Can't Afford Insulin

The article tells the story of Sa’Ra Skipper, a young woman who was terrified when she learned, at college, that she had aged out of her mother's insurance:

"I didn’t know what was going to come next. I was so scared. When I was a baby, my mom’s sister passed away from Type 1 diabetes, and my whole life that has been in the back of my mind: I don’t want to end up like Aunt Joy. My sister was in Virginia during that time, so she would mail me insulin when she had some to spare, and when she ran low, my grandparents would have to pay cash for hers.

“I lost a lot of weight that year, about twenty pounds. When you don’t have insulin, you can’t eat much because you can’t correct your blood sugar. So I was barely eating. I was supposed to take four to five shots of insulin a day, and I was only taking two to three. I was lethargic all the time. I was rationing just so I could live. I knew if I ran out I wouldn’t survive more than a few days.

Now she works at a call center, and her job gives her Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance, which enables her to see  her primary care doctor and her endocrinologist. But even with the insurance, she can't afford the $1000 per month it would cost her to fill her insulin prescriptions:

"I can’t tell you the last time I was able to fill a prescription. I get samples from my endocrinologist. My sister also gets free insulin through a health center, because her income is lower than mine. So we’ve been sharing that....Last summer, my sister and I were living at my mom’s house, and one night we got our wires crossed. She was out late, and I took my ration dose and put the rest of the vial on the nightstand so she would see it. When she came in, she only took part of what was left, because she didn’t realize I had gotten some already. In the morning she went into diabetic ketoacidosis. She turned green and was throwing up and her sugar was through the roof. I drove her to the hospital, straight to the E.R. She had to get a [P.I.C.C. line] in her neck. She almost went into a diabetic coma. She was in the hospital for four days, and all because we were sharing insulin....

"So many people are being hit by the same issue. People are choosing between their car notes, their rent, and getting their medicine or their children’s medicine. Drug companies are gouging people who have no choice. I honestly don’t understand how they can do that. If you have Type 1 diabetes, there’s no superfood or exercise that you can do to make up for your pancreas not working. Insulin is life-sustaining. And insulin hasn’t changed in about a hundred years

"1 out of 4" is a statistic -- easy to "fly over" and forget. But Sa’Ra Skipper doesn't feel like she's  a statistic -- for her it's all too real. But how to convey that reality in a demonstration? Can it be conveyed by depicting Big Pharma as blood-thirsty vampire?  Can it be conveyed by a chant such as: 

           Leader: Pharma's greedy gouging kills!

           Group:   Profits are their poison pills!

I wonder.

Recently, I viewed a video in which I saw discussed Pelosi's apparent  coolness to Single-Payer.

And one of the participants said, "Come on: We're not going to get it until we take to the streets."

That's the answer -- and the challenge. The answer is to show our real passion for this healthcare reform -- in the streets, and everywhere! And the challenge is to grow that passion, and grow the number of people who feel it until it becomes a movement -- unstoppable.

Dio

PS: If you'd like to leave a comment -- and I encourage you to do so -- simply click on the "number of comments" area, and share your thoughts in the "comment rectangle" that appears.


PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!