FreedomWorks Spring Fly-In

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Between May 19th and May 23rd hundreds of grassroots activists from across the country flew to Washington DC to participate in FreedomWorks two-part Spring Fly-In. I was among four of the PBC Tea Party members who had the honor of attending. What I learned was invaluable and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

I attended the second group with a kick off Welcome Reception on Tuesday evening at the new FreedomWorks headquarters. I saw old friends for the Fly-In I attended in 2018 and made new friends as I meandered around the room. I ran into Roman Buhler, Director of the Madison Coalition and recent speaker at our May Tea Party meeting who was encouraging other activists to get involved in the grass roots movement of the Freedom Regulation Amendment.

Following breakfast at 7:30 am the following morning it was straight to work. Bottom line we were educated on the International Pricing Index (IPI) an anything but free market pricing solution proposed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar, in preparation for our big trip to the Hill to lobby our Representatives and Senators. In a nutshell, the IPI would tie drug prices in the U.S. to drug prices in foreign countries. Under such a policy, U.S. policy makers would unilaterally adjust American drug prices to match a composite of drug prices in countries such as Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In a word, we would be operating under the same socialist, single-payer systems those countries outlined above and be subject to the same consequences of health care rationing. The Department of HHS is proposing implementing IPI on a trial basis for 50% of Medicare Part B recipients. As FreedomWorks points out there is no way to ensure this “trial” will not impact the private market not to mention that such a rule making is outside HHS’s statutory authority.

So after becoming armed with the facts and a lesson on how to lobby we headed up to the Hill in solidarity in our FreedomWorks shirt. Upon arrival we broke up into nine groups and with our group leader walked from office to office to meet with the healthcare policy staffers of our state representatives and senators. My group consisted of Florida and Georgia. While we only secured an appointment with Senator Rick Scott’s staffer, we were able to meet with staffers from Senator Marco Rubio’s office, Representative Vern Buchanan’s (R-GA) office and believe it or not, Mike Lee’s office (that was my idea). Representative Mast’s staffer was not available however we left a left a one-page handout for follow up by FreedomWorks.

We were encouraged to learn that all the staffers we met shared our concerns about the proposed IPI and non-free market legislation being put forth by the House and the Senate. Rich Scott’s staff was somewhat of an exception given Senator Rick Scott has co-sponsored S977 which would apply the IPI to the entire healthcare market for a period of five years. I suppose it’s somewhat better than Senator Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings legislation to introduce the same proposal indefinitely; consequences be dammed!

By 5:30 pm my feet were killing me and I was ready to head out. We piled back on the buses for a barbecue dinner at the Hill Country Barbecue. This was followed by a keynote speech from Steven Moore, FreedomWorks Senior Economic Contributor, former economic advisor to the President and nominee to hold a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Moore has also been a guest at the PBC Tea Party and a personal friend of the Tea Party. As always Moore gave an invigorating speech that ended with a standing round of applause.

The next day we were back at it at 7:30 am starting with our good friend Reverend CL Bryant. This was followed by a discussion on criminal justice reform from FreedomWorks VP of Legislative Affairs, Jason Pye and FreedomWorks Federal Affairs Manager, Sarah Anderson. Next, we had a Q&A on immigration with Representative John Hostettler (R-IN), Robert Henneke, General Counsel and Director for the Center for The America Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Joshua Trevino.

Finally, Daniel Ashworth, counsel from the office of Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) taught us everything we need to know about rebate reform and the pharmaceutical companies Pharmacy Rebate Manager (PRM) program. For those of you like me who are unfamiliar with this program allow me to explain. A PRM is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and state government employee plans. In short, PBM companies negotiate with drug manufacturers on behalf of government health plans and private and employer-based insurance plans on prices. Ultimately, the deals they strike determine the availability and prices of prescription drugs for more than 266 million Americans. PRMs are exempt from anti-trust legislation in the form of a rebates at every step in bringing drugs to the market and ultimately to the consumer. The intent of the program is to lower prices for the consumer. Notably, PRM operations are hidden from public view and the legislators. No surprise PRMS have been accused of pocketing most of the money from the rebates (or should I say kickbacks) rather than passing the savings on to the consumer. It’s no surprise that the PRM program coupled with the reduced drug prices for foreign countries U.S. consumers pay high prices for their drugs.

If you like you can replicate our lobbying efforts, I encourage you to phone or email our congressmen’s healthcare policy staffers and politely tell them that you oppose Secretary of HHS Alex Azar’s International Price Index proposal as well as any legislation introduced to reduce drug prices that is not based on the principles of a free market.

Health Care Policy Staffer	DC Phone	Email Address
Sarah Miller for Rep Brian Mast	202.225.3026	Sarah.miller@mail.house.gov
Ansley Rhyne for Sen Marco Rubio	202.224.3041	ansley_rhyne@rubio.senate.gov
Jon Foltz for Sen Rick Scott	202.224.5274	jon_foltz@rickscott.senate.gov