We are continuing our advocacy blog series meant to help youtake carewhen it comes to important arthritis health care and coverage issues. If you are just now tuning into this series, check out our previous blog posts onaccumulator adjustment programs, pharmacistgag orders, President Trump’s drug pricingblueprint,drug rebates,premium increases, andan update on the Affordable Care Act.
Earlier this week, we held our first ever Platinum Ambassador Assembly in Washington, D.C. The Assembly is a meeting for our most highly engaged advocacy volunteers to hone their skills, meet other Platinum Ambassadors from around the country and share their stories with members of Congress. Our Junior Ambassadors and future leaders – volunteers committed to achieving Platinum Ambassador status in 2018 – were also in attendance to learn, share their stories and fight for the over 54 million Americans who are living with arthritis.
Continue readingPlatinum Ambassador Assembly – Highlights from Capitol Hill
The 2017 Advocacy Summit was held March 6-7 in Washington, DC, and while the outcome is still developing, we are very pleased with the results thus far.
Arthritis affects people regardless of age or origin, so it was no surprise that this year’s Summit attendees were a mix of all ages from coast to coast.More than 400 people from 45 states attended.
Continue reading峰会的成功!Advocates Meet with Congress as American Health Care Act Released
Day two of theAdvocacy Summitstarted with lots of chatter about the Trump administration’s unveiling of repeal and replace health care legislation.
Several aspects of the bill align with ourPatient Principles for Health Care其中概述了四项原则，如果被采纳，将产生一个透明的医疗保健系统，使人们更容易获得更负担得起的医疗。该法案包括禁止拒绝为有既往病史的人提供保险，禁止终身覆盖上限，允许年轻人在26岁之前继续享受父母的保险计划——这对关节炎患者来说都是好消息!
Continue readingAdvocacy Summit Day 2 Highlights: Advocates Meet with State and Federal Policymakers to Share Their Stories
They came from places like Runnels, a small town in Iowa with 507 residents, and New York City, the second largest city in the world.
People like Leticia Hugues and her son, Ashton, from Smiths Grove Kentucky, Lydia Meyer and her daughter Susanna from Reno, Nevada, and Kelli Carlson from Woodbury Minnesota and her friend Kelli Dwyer from La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Continue reading400 Volunteers Prepare for Meetings with Congress: Advocacy Summit Day 1 Highlights
A record number of individuals have achieved the Arthritis Foundation’s highest advocacy honor in 2016 and became PlatinumAmbassadors. At the 2017Advocacy Summit, March 6-7, in Washington, DC, 41 new Platinum Ambassadors will be recognized for their outstanding advocacy accomplishments on behalf of the arthritis community.
Platinum Ambassadors are an elite group of Advocates who go above and beyond the call of duty by accomplishing a challenging list of advocacy assignments along with four bonus activities, all while raising funds to support the Foundation’s mission to conquer and cure arthritis.
“Platinum Ambassadors are the special forces of our Advocate army,” said Sandie Preiss, national vice president, Advocacy & Access. “They use their voice and arthritis stories, at an elevated level of frequency and sophistication, to help knock down barriers to health care.”
Continue readingRecord Number of Advocates Earn Platinum Ambassador Status
最近，关节炎基金会带头在加利福尼亚州通过了三项新法律，以确保病人得到照顾，并继续保持较低的处方成本。这些法律集中在处理生物仿制药替代、逐步治疗和控制加州居民的自费费用等问题上。
With specific regard to the new legislation regulating the step therapy process, Krystin Herr, vice president of government affairs and advocacy in the pacific region for the Arthritis Foundation, stated, “Many patients with complex chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, do not always fit a ‘one size fits all’ approach to medication. However, step therapy protocols do not reflect that.”
Continue readingArthritis Foundation Advocates Help Achieve 3 Big Victories in California!
For those living with arthritis and those fighting to conquer it, there are no shortage of barriers, bottlenecks and even days where No becomes the norm. As part of our efforts to fully support the arthritis community and break down those barriers to achieve more moments of Yes, we fight on many levels, including legislative, to make real change that impacts the lives of the over 50 million people living with this disease. Today, we celebrate a big victory for the 5.9 million people (38,000 of whom are children) in California living with arthritis.
Continue readingVictory in California – Breaking Down Step Therapy Barriers!
帮助我们战胜关节炎!加入关节炎基金会超过12.5万名支持者的队伍，帮助我们在国会山和全国各地做出积极的改变。Through powerful grassroots advocacy, our Advocates make their opinions and stories known on numerous arthritis-related policy priorities, including:
Continue readingImprove the Lives of Those with Arthritis: Become an Advocate
Thanks to the efforts of Arthritis Foundation Advocates, an amendment that could cut vital arthritis research in the Senate Defense Authorization bill will not go to the floor of the Senate for a vote! Over 58 letters and phone calls were made to senators last week by Arthritis Foundation Advocates to preserve the research program. Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act asking that all research not directly related to deployment, combat, recovery and rehabilitation be defunded. The amendment could have cut some of the arthritis research currently being conducted by the Department of Defense, and made researchers more cautious in the type of research they pursue. Even research that gets funded would have had to go through extra hoops to ensure it is related to specific military functions.