| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2023 |
PRESS CONTACT Emily Slatkow emily@firesidecampaigns.com |
New “Bidenomics” plan to Protect Americans from Junk Insurance & Unfair Medical Debt
Washington, DC – This afternoon, Laura Packard, a health care advocate and cancer survivor who founded Health Care Voices released the following statement regarding President Biden’s new plan to protect Americans from unfair medical debt and lower prescription drug prices. Each year, millions of Americans find themselves subjected to unfair medical debt, or unable to access care due to junk health insurance coverage that inadequately covers their medical needs or surprise medical bills that they thought would be covered by their plans.
“President Biden’s plan to crack down on junk insurance plans, surprise medical billing and to protect patients from medical debt will help millions of Americans avoid financial ruin that can be caused by their medical needs,” said Laura Packard, a health care advocate and founder of Health Care Voices. “I used to have a junk insurance plan. If I still had that plan today, I would be bankrupt or dead.”
“Junk plans are a far more common problem than people realize. Each day, patients undergoing life saving treatments find out that those procedures aren’t covered by their insurance through no fault of their own. Thank you to the administration for closing loopholes and holding insurance companies accountable. This will give patients the peace of mind they need to focus on healing, not the anxiety of not knowing how the next bill will be paid.”
In addition to releasing President Biden’s plan to protect patients from unfair medical debt, the White House also released a report showing that America’s seniors on Medicare will save on average $400 per year on prescription drugs when the administration’s new cap on out-of-pocket expenses takes effect this year.
These reforms were announced at an event today at the White House that Laura Packard attended. To speak with Laura about the struggles that she and other survivors have had with surprise medical billing and junk insurance plans, please reach out to Emily Slatkow at emily@firesidecampaigns.com or Brad Bauman at brad@firesidecampaigns.com.
Laura Packard is an American health care activist and political commentator. She is the founder of Health Care Voices, a non-profit grassroots organization for adults with serious medical conditions. She is also the executive director of the group Health Care Voter, which counts actress Alyssa Milano, singer T-Boz, politicians Donna Edwards and Anton Gunn, activists Ady Barkan and Brad Woodhouse, and others as co-chairs.
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