Jan. 27:
Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) and
Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16) yesterday introduced the Protecting Patient Access to Lifesaving COVID-19 Drugs Act, legislation that would expand access to lifesaving COVID-19 treatments by requiring private health insurance plans to cover the administration costs of monoclonal antibodies without cost-sharing.
Authorized by the
Food and Drug Administration in
November 2020, monoclonal antibodies have proven to prevent COVID-19 infections and reduce COVID-19 related hospitalizations. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services purchased 950,000 doses from Eli Lilly and another 300,000 doses from Regeneron. While these drugs will be distributed at no cost to patients, providers are able to charge an administration fee for the intravenous infusion of the antibodies - a service that can cost well over
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By the time he tested positive for a coronavirus infection, Gary Herritz was feeling pretty sick. His scratchy throat had progressed to a dry cough, headache, joint pain and fever. A liver transplant recipient, he knew his compromised immune system made him vulnerable to a severe case of COVID-19.
Herritz had read on Twitter about monoclonal antibody therapy, the type of treatment famously touted by Donald Trump after his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The Food and Drug Administration authorized its emergency use to keep high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital and, perhaps, the morgue.
. (Tribune News Service) By the time he tested positive for a coronavirus infection, Gary Herritz was feeling pretty sick. His scratchy throat had progressed to a dry cough, headache, joint pain and fever. A liver transplant recipient, he knew his compromised immune system made him vulnerable to a severe case of COVID-19. Herritz had read on Twitter about monoclonal antibody therapy, the type of treatment famously touted by Donald Trump after his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The Food and Drug Administration authorized its emergency use to keep high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital and, perhaps, the morgue.
By the time he tested positive for covid-19 on Jan. 12, Gary Herritz was feeling pretty sick. He suspects he was infected a week earlier, during a medical appointment in which he saw health workers who were wearing masks beneath their noses or who had removed them entirely.