Letter from Dan Klein, President and CEO
My message for our 2018 annual report is about a drop in the bucket—and the imperative to meet the growing needs of patients across the country.
Let me explain. First, I’m incredibly proud of and very grateful for the work the PAN Foundation has done to increase access to our safety net programs over the last year. In 2018, thanks to our generous donors, we raised $530.7 million. That allowed us to help over 180,000 patients with their out-of-pocket costs across 70 disease-specific assistance programs.
All of us at PAN are extremely humbled by our ability to help so many patients. But the stark reality is that even counting the thousands of patients we've served, it's only a drop in the bucket of the millions who need financial assistance in order to afford their critical medications.
High out-of-pocket costs are an insurmountable obstacle for millions of Americans when it comes to paying for their prescription medications. At PAN, we believe out-of-pocket costs should never get in the way of a person’s ability to start and stay on treatment.
But we know too well that the continuing rise of out-of-pocket costs—in the form of high-deductible health plans, coinsurance for specialty medications or co-pays—means that paying for prescription drugs forces families to make difficult decisions or forgo treatment altogether.
Numbers that Alarm Us:
- People are four times more likely to abandon their prescriptions when faced with out-of-pocket costs of $50 or more. (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2010)
- The average family of four paid over $28,000 for their health insurance and out-of-pocket costs in 2018. (Milliman Medical Index)
- The financial burden of high deductibles, coinsurance and co-pays was highest for people who are older or lower-income, and for women. (JP Morgan Chase & Co, 2017)
We urgently need policies that provide patients with relief from out-of-pocket costs and increased access to their critical medications. In the coming year, we’ll continue to do everything we can to advocate for lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.
In the meantime, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our donors, our network of healthcare providers and pharmacists, and our alliance partners. We could not do this critical work without your support—and we look forward to what we will accomplish together in service of patients in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Dan Klein
President and CEO