March 5, 2026: “As goes California, so goes the nation” is a phrase reflecting California’s reputation as a bellwether in setting regulations that often become a precedent for national policy.
March 2, 2025: Washington, DC – A new analysis from the National Consumers League (NCL) finds that hospitals participating in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program—including many hospitals that treat high volumes of cancer patients —are more likely than non-340B hospitals to permit aggressive medical debt collection practices such as lawsuits, wage garnishment, liens, and credit reporting.
March 2, 2026: Washington, DC – Phishing and spoofing scams soared by 85.6% over the past year, doubling median losses from $1,000 to $2,060, according to the National Consumers League’s Fraud.org Top Ten Scams of 2025 report. Of 1,376 consumer complaints analyzed, investment scams caused the highest median loss at $30,000.
February 20, 2026: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League applauds today’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, striking down President Trump’s sweeping tariff program, which is a major victory for American consumers and a rebuke of a costly experiment that functioned as a hidden tax on families.
February 12, 2025: Washington, DC – Recent turbulence at the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division has culminated in the absence of its top leadership, including now-former Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater. NCL is deeply concerned about the potential impact this disruption could have on the Division’s ability to pursue antitrust enforcement consistently, independently, and in the public interest. Leadership instability at such a critical moment raises serious questions about whether major cases – including the ongoing litigation against Live Nation-Ticketmaster, which NCL has long supported – will be carried through to their conclusion.
February 11, 2026: Have you heard of Alpha-1 Disorder? I hadn’t either until I had a conversation with the Alpha-1 Disorder team that’s gathered in Ft. Lauderdale for the National Health Council Annual Meeting. I love coming to this gathering because of the energy and drive behind the diverse patient groups and companies working to develop treatments and cures. Lisa Bercu, our Senior Health Policy Director, and I are here talking with and learning from colleagues across the health care spectrum.
February 9, 2026: Washington, DC – You can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all the time. On Friday, February 6, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would stop the telehealth platform Hims & Hers from marketing a compounded version of the first FDA-approved GLP-1 weight-loss pill. On Saturday, Hims & Hers said it was withdrawing the product from the market, and the FDA did not pursue enforcement action.
February 9, 2026: Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League (NCL) applauds the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for securing a landmark settlement with one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Express Scripts, Inc., and its affiliated entities. The settlement requires Express Scripts to make significant changes to its business practices that will, among other things, increase transparency, base patients’ out-of-pocket expenses on the drug’s net cost rather than the artificially inflated list price, and increase fairness in community pharmacy reimbursement.
February 4, 2026: Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) today sent a letter to members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee calling for lawmakers to establish a framework for the safe and responsible deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs), which are vehicles that can perform the entire driving task without human intervention.
February 3, 2026: Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League applauds the passage of the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026 (CAA), which includes meaningful reforms to hold pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable and bring greater transparency to the prescription drug marketplace. These reforms are an important step toward ensuring that patients, employers, and plan sponsors benefit from lower drug costs—not entities who profit from opaque pricing practices.
The work of the National Consumers League is making a difference in people’s lives across the country. Meet some of the consumers touched by our programs.
Read about NCL’s impact
Paige, 55, a Nashville wife and mother of two, answered an employment ad for secret shoppers. Before sending payment to the scammers, she reached out to NCL.
Read about NCL’s impact
A grease fire flared up in Decklan’s kitchen. As his family scrambled and panicked, fearing that the whole house might erupt in flames, Decklan remained calm. He hurried over to the pantry, grabbed some baking soda, and dumped it on the fire quickly extinguishing the blaze.
Read about NCL’s impact
Cincinnati resident Charles, 45, lost his computer business — and health insurance— during a time of economic downturn. A diabetic, Charles was now unable to afford his medication. He stopped taking it which made him seriously ill and put his life at risk.
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Jeremy is a fast-food worker who has been employed at a number of Chipotle restaurants in New York City. When he was just 20 years old, he took part in an NCL research project that revealed that management practices within the fast food chain were putting workers—and food safety for customers—at risk.
Read about NCL’s impact
By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director
While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to hardship for all Americans, it is clear that people of color have been disproportionately burdened. Across the health care continuum, addressing this disparity has become part of the broader conversation about the history of systemic racism and the underlying social determinants of health that negatively affect the mental, physical, and economic health of individuals and entire communities.
The pandemic has underscored persistent health disparities, and there is growing recognition that representation in research and clinical trials can have a profound impact on health outcomes. A lack of representation from racially and ethnically diverse groups in research and clinical trials have typically led to gaps in data, missing the opportunity to assess the full impact of various treatments and drugs across a range of populations. The collection and use of real-world research and data to inform the potential use, risks, and benefits of medical products and treatments can ultimately lead to better health outcomes, particularly for those who have been underrepresented in the past.
Existing efforts to improve inclusion
Efforts to expand diversity and representation in medical research are underway in Congress. Policymakers are encouraging the incorporation of Real World Evidence (RWE) in drug development through the recent Cures 2.0 draft legislation released by Reps. Diana Degette (D-CO-1) and Fred Upton (D-MI-6). While the status quo limits us from effectively reaching underserved populations, the proposed legislation would allow studies that include RWE for some drugs after they have been approved. At the heart of this issue is a growing appreciation that the same therapy can affect different populations in different ways, which is why Cures 2.0 supports collecting data that more accurately reflects the unique experiences and needs of patients across diverse populations.
Recognizing the potential for RWE in maternal health
The lack of representative research in the field of maternal health is undeniable, and its implications are staggering. The dismal state of maternal care in the United States reflects how our health care system has failed women of color, including by not adequately studying treatment options to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality. The need for RWE is clear when you consider the persistent disparities in health outcomes that plague minority communities.
Preterm birth and its disproportionate impact on women of color is a stark illustration of the need to make progress on representative research in maternal health. Preterm birth is the second-largest contributor to infant death in America today. Despite the tremendous physical, emotional, and financial toll that preterm birth continues to take on our country — disproportionately so on women and families of color — not enough therapeutic tools currently exist to prevent it.
Today, “17P,” the only FDA-approved treatment to help reduce the likelihood of spontaneous, recurrent preterm birth in the United States is at-risk of being withdrawn from the market in all its forms, including the branded product and five generic versions. Unfortunately there is conflicting evidence from two different clinical trials, one representative of a diverse U.S. population and another studied in a largely white population in Europe. It’s not a straightforward comparison. If 17P is withdrawn, the women most affected by preterm birth, predominantly women of color, would be left without an FDA-approved treatment option.
The FDA is considering the path forward, including additional data collection through leveraging RWE from past patient use. The success of the first (approval) trial for 17P in the impacted communities signals the importance of RWE. Continued access to 17P is, at its core, a matter of health equity. Black women must not yet again be left vulnerable to a system that historically has overlooked them.
