The Mended Hearts, Inc. believes that empowered patients and families are powerful voices in developing health care policy and creating rules, regulations, and procedures that work for everyone. Our policy priorities reflect our commitment to promoting powerful patient and family voices, and truly patient-centered care.

Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act (H.R. 1509 & S. 752) – The AKACA aims to reduce the time it takes children covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to access specialized care when doctors in their home state cannot address their treatment needs. MHI will continue to promote the AKACA and support its passage by Congress.

Safe Step Act (H.R. 5509 & S. 2903) – Step therapy is a prescription drug management strategy used by health insurance companies to control costs and promote the use of more affordable medications. However, step therapy can delay access to necessary medications if the step therapy drug does not work quickly and may require patients to try multiple medications before finding one that is effective. MHI will continue to advocate for passage of the Safe Step Act to provide an exceptions process for any medication step therapy protocol.

US Government 340B Drug Program –The 340B Drug Pricing Program is a federal program that provides discounted prescription drugs to eligible healthcare providers, known as “covered entities,” to help them serve low-income and uninsured patients. MHI plans to extend its efforts to improve the 340B program, which mandates big discounts from drug manufacturers, but the discounts are not passed on to patients.  To learn more about the 340B Drug Pricing Program and the ACCESS Act, click HERE.

NIH Research Funding – MIH will advocate for sustained and increased funding at the National Institutes of Health, focusing on programs at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This may include, but is not limited to, appropriations requests in the fiscal year 2027 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill.

 

If you’d like to contact your representatives about our current policy priorities, head to our Take Action page!