New Ads Back Finkenauer’s Stance Against Big Pharma Lobby

A group called Patients for Affordable Drugs Now is supporting Iowa Rep. Abby Finkenauer with a six-figure digital ad buy.

Two new ads encouraging voters to thank Finkenauer for her work on several bills that aim to lower prescription drug prices are hitting YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

The ads are titled “Jackie” and “Gail.”

In her ad, Jackie says she takes 20 chemotherapy pills a month and they cost her $20,000 every single month.

“The system is rigged,” Jackie said in the video. “Drug companies set any price they want, raking in billions, while patients suffer.”

The second ad introduces viewers to Gail, who used to pay $26 for a vial of insulin. Today, it costs her up to $350 a vial.

“Our Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer is working to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for all Americans,” the ad says. “Tell her to keep fighting.”

The group’s mission is to “break the monopoly pricing power of the drug corporations,” according to its website.

Ben Wakana, the executive director of Patients for Affordable Drugs, said the group chose to support Finkenauer for several reasons, one of which is her backing on the idea to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices.

“Big Pharma has been lobbying furiously to kill this proposal, and Rep. Finkenauer is standing strong,” Patients for Affordable Drugs Now said in a release. “We want her to know that patients have her back, and we greatly appreciate her being a champion on this issue.”

Finkenauer has been working on lowering the price of prescription drugs since her first day in office.

She was one of the first freshman representatives to join the CREATEs Act, which closes loopholes to block drug companies from driving out generic competition.

Finkenauer supports the STAR Act as well. The STAR Act requires drug manufacturers to justify large price increases. 

Wakana said he hopes the people of Iowa will call Finkenauer and tell her thank you for the work she’s been doing and “to tell her to keep fighting.

“We believe the policies Rep. Finkenauer has endorsed and has put her weight behind would be meaningful to her constituents, and we want to let her know her constituents have her back,” Wakana said.

In addition to the video ad buys, the money will go toward launching digital tools to let people know how to contact their legislators.

Finkenauer’s efforts on protecting pre-existing conditions coverage hasn’t gone unnoticed, either.

A campaign called Protect Out Care rolled out a digital campaign featuring Finkenauer and fellow Iowa Representative Cindy Axne.

Earlier this year, Finkenauer rolled out another health care plan, called “Keeping Physicians Serving Patients Act of 2019,” which helps providers cover the costs of serving Medicare recipients.

“States like Iowa have been ignored here for far too long,” Finkenauer told Iowa Starting Line. “It is so important that we are bringing up these issues about how federal policies impact rural areas that, again, haven’t been discussed here in many years.”

by Paige Godden
Posted 10/23/19