We’re working toward a future where equitable access and affordability for all is a reality.
The PAN Foundation’s annual Advocacy Action Summit and our Virtual Day of Action offer opportunities for advocates to rally for equitable healthcare for all. Together, we champion legislative priorities that directly impact the lives of millions of patients and elevate the voices of those affected by chronic, rare, and life-threatening illnesses.
Thank you for joining us!
The PAN Foundation is overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm shown by healthcare access advocates from across the country during our Advocacy Action Summit and Virtual Day of Action in 2024. Together, we made a tremendous impact! From everyone at PAN, thank you.
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We can make our voices heard every day
Thousands of healthcare access advocates joined PAN Foundation on September 25, 2024, for our Advocacy Action Summit and Virtual Day of Action to amplify our message on Capitol Hill and reach policymakers.
Our work together doesn’t end there. Help us ask Congress to put patients first.
We are asking Congress to:
Make all copays count toward deductibles
Support the Help Ensure Lower Patient (HELP) Copays Act, which prohibits the use of harmful copay accumulator adjuster programs that prevent copay assistance from counting toward a patient’s deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. Copay accumulators drive up out-of-pocket costs and prevent access to care and treatment.
Improve prior authorization for Medicare patients
Medicare Advantage plans require burdensome prior authorization requirements for patients, which prevents timely access to a prescribed course of treatment and drowns healthcare providers in paperwork. The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act asks Medicare Advantage plans to fix outdated prior authorization practices.
Improve step therapy protocols
Step therapy protocols, also known as “fail first” protocols, are cost containment tools used by health plans to limit spending on prescription drugs, requiring patients to try a less expensive, insurer-preferred medication before being allowed to take the medication prescribed by their health care provider. Step therapy often harms patients by delaying access to the most effective treatment, causing severe side effects, and leading to disease progression.
Increase diversity in clinical trials
Clinical trials should include people with a variety of lived experiences and race and ethnicity, age, sex, and sexual orientation, so that all communities can benefit from scientific advances. Support legislation that would modernize clinical trial participation through improved outreach and recruitment goals that accurately represent the U.S. population.
Expand access to dental services
Since Medicare’s inception in 1965, dental care has been excluded from coverage despite the need by nearly 24 million enrollees who can’t access routine dental care. Support legislation that increases access to dental insurance coverage by Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Advocacy Action Summit
PAN’s Advocacy Action Summit is a three-day event focused on educating and empowering advocates to make a difference in healthcare policy by sharing their stories. Our goal is to amplify important voices that otherwise may not be heard. We start the summit by bringing a group of advocates to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and share their lived experiences and advocate for support. This summit is a unique opportunity for passionate individuals to get advocacy training and then put it into action on Capitol Hill.
The history of PAN’s advocacy action summit
PAN held our first advocacy “Action Day” in 2022, rallying our advocates across all U.S. states and territories to call on Congress to support commonsense, patient-first legislation.
During our inaugural event, we urged Congress to support key Medicare reforms through the Inflation Reduction Act. When those reforms were signed into law, we celebrated an important policy win for patients. You can learn about those reforms and the timeline for implementation in our Medicare reforms guide.
In 2023, PAN grant recipients and their loved ones from across the country came together on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, share their lived experience, and ask for support on policies that would continue to lower out-of-pocket costs and increase healthcare access and affordability for all. Thousands of supporters from across the country also rallied together for a virtual day of action, sending more than 5,000 emails to legislators, echoing the messages of the PAN delegation on the Hill.
Thank you to our summit sponsors
