2020 Primary Election Primer

Evan O'Connor January 17, 2020

We are in the beginnings of an election year in the United States and the first primary votes to determine the Democratic nominee will be cast in the coming weeks. Healthcare costs remain a top concern for voters, and candidates have developed varying proposals to improve healthcare, reform the current system, and reduce healthcare costs in the U.S.

Independent Senator from Vermont and 2016 Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders has long championed the ideal of single payer healthcare, often referred to as Medicare for All in the U.S. In a single payer system, the federal government fully covers every service and procedure, including dental, vision, long-term care and abortion, with no out-of-pocket charge to patients. Bernie Sanders has often claimed Medicare for All is the only way to address deeper problems in the United States healthcare system, from medical bankruptcies to high maternal mortality rates, especially among poor and minority women. Senator Sanders has proposed allowing importing medication from abroad at

Awareness, Health, Healthcare Reform, Specialty Drugs

Transgender Awareness Week & Remembrance Day

Evan O'Connor November 14, 2019

Transgender Awareness Week falls between November 13-19 every year and is meant to help raise visibility of a vulnerable and underserved community. ‘Transgender’ is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned at birth; ‘gender identity’ is one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither.

Transgender/gender non-conforming people experience gender dysphoria, a clinically significant distress recognized by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) caused by a person’s assigned birth gender differing from the one with which they identify. This leads to increased depression among the transgender community, which can be exacerbated by being rejected by family and friends, abuse/violence, or experiencing discrimination. Gender-affirming operations have shown to yield long-term mental health benefits for transgender people.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people can face significant problems with accessing health care. Finding a healthcare provider who is

Diabetes, Drug Discount Card, NeedyMeds, Prescription Drugs

Save on your Durable Medical Equipment & Diabetic Supplies

Evan O'Connor July 16, 2019

The NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card is adding a new benefit for patients! The NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card can now be used to save 40% on durable medical equipment and diabetic supplies. Our new partnership with My Virtual Doctor allows patients to buy hundreds of items online at a discount when you enter a NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card ID at checkout. You can now use your NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card to save on:

Diabetic supplies — needles, syringes, meters, test strips, lancets and more;
Splints and braces for ankle, knee, wrist, back;
Catheters and incontinence supplies;
Bathroom safety supplies — commodes, grab bars, bath benches and more;
Compression stockings;
Mobility devices such as canes, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs;
Footwear — inserts, socks, slippers;
Bladder control pads;
and more!

For over 10 years, the NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card has been helping patients afford their prescriptions. To date, we have saved patients over $280 million on the price of their medications. The free NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card can be used anywhere in the country at over 65,000 participating pharmacies including all of the major chains, to save up to 80% on the cash price of your prescriptions. There are no income or age restrictions. There is no activation or registration needed and no personal information is taken when using our card.

The only rule is that you can’t combine insurance with the NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card. So if you’re

Awareness, Health, Prescription Drugs

Migraine and Headache Awareness Month

Evan O'Connor June 5, 2019

June is Migraine and Headache Awareness Month. A vital part of awareness is knowing that migraines are much more than just a bad headache. Migraine is a neurological disease with incapacitating neurological symptoms that affects over 39 million men, women, and children in the United States. Most people who experience migraines get them once or twice a month, but more than 4 million are affected by daily chronic migraine with at least 15 days of debilitating symptoms every month.

Everyone has headaches, but not everyone has migraines. Migraine involves nerve pathways, brain chemicals, and often runs in families but also has environmental factors. There are four stages of migraine: prodrome, aura, headache, and postdrome. It is possible to cycle through all the phases in an episode, or only experience one, two, or three of them. Each attack can vary from the ones before it.

The prodrome is also known as “preheadache”

Awareness, BeMedWise, Medicine Safety, Prescription Drugs

Meeting the Medicine Information Needs of Americans with Vision Loss

BeMedWise May 28, 2019

The Facts

More than 3.4 million (3%) Americans aged 40 years and older are either legally blind (having visual acuity [VA] of 20/200 or worse or a visual field of less than 20 degrees) or are visually impaired (having VA of 20/40 or less). The Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics estimates that 17% of the age 65 and older population report “vision trouble.” Twenty-one million Americans report functional vision problems or eye conditions that may compromise vision. Older people are more likely to experience vision loss because of age-related eye diseases.

Prevalence of Visual Disability

The following estimates (for adult’s age 16 and older reporting significant vision loss, who were in the non-institutionalized, civilian population) are derived from the American Community Survey results for 2016, as interpreted by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute (EDI), unless otherwise credited.

The number of non-institutionalized, male or female, ages 16 through 75 +, all races, regardless of ethnicity, with all education levels in the United States reported to have a visual disability in 2016:

Total (all ages): 7,675,600 (2.4%)
- Total (16 to 75+): 7,208,700 (2.83%)
  - Women: 3,946,300 (3.01%)
  - Men: 3,262,300 (2.65%)
  - Age 16 to 64: 4,037,600 (2.0%)
  - Age 65 and older: 3,171,100 (6.6%)
  Read more