July 11, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org 

Washington, DC—Yesterday the National Consumers League (NCL) convened its annual meeting of the Committed Partners of the Script Your Future public education campaign, in its third year of raising awareness among patients about the consequences of not taking medication as directed. Three out of four Americans are non-adherent, meaning that they fail to take prescribed medicines as directed by their health care professionals. Coordinated by the League and launched in 2011, the innovative, multi-stakeholder effort campaign continues to educate millions of patients, family caregivers and health care professionals about the importance of adherence.

At the annual meeting, representatives from the campaign’s 135 Committed Partners and other supporters gathered to highlight campaign successes, hear reports from field organizers in the campaign’s local target markets and strategize about its ongoing work in the changing healthcare landscape. The attendees heard remarks from outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, who earlier this summer announced her plans to step down from the post. Benjamin talked about her involvement in Script Your Future and offered support for continued success. 

“Our national challenge is to become a more healthy and fit nation. We can’t prevent all diseases, but we can prevent many from getting worse by taking our medications as directed. When we work together as a whole team, we can provide better healthcare for patients,” said Benjamin. “Thousands of consumers are taking the pledge and using many Script Your Future tools to improve adherence.”

Dr. Benjamin helped Script Your Future organizers present awards to the winners of the 2013 Medication Adherence Team Challenge, who traveled to the meeting to represent their colleges and universities and receive the national honors. This month-long competition engaged health profession students and faculty in developing creative ideas for raising awareness about medication adherence as a critical public health issue. This year’s awardees are: St. Louis College of Pharmacy, University of Charleston School of Pharmacy, University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Touro University California College of Pharmacy, and The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.

“This year’s challenge featured 1,700 future health care professionals holding 200 events in 35 states and the District of Columbia, counseling more than 12,000 patients and reaching more than 3 million consumers nationwide,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, the organization that coordinates Script Your Future. “We were honored to have Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, a good friend and long-time supporter of the campaign, with us today to help honor the student leaders who represent an exciting and new generation of patient-minded health professionals.”

Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA spoke at the meeting as well. The National Consumers League was recently notified by the FDA of the availability of grant funds to support the Script Your Future campaign by an announcement in the Federal Register.

“The framing of this campaign is brilliant. You are in control of your own future. It brings it home personally. You can control your future by taking action now,” said Woodcock. “NCL is the ideal lead for this effort, a trusted advocate for the health and welfare of the public. We at FDA intend to support NCL in any way we can to keep this effort going.”

Script Your Future is supported by a coalition of more than 130 public and private partners, including health care professional groups, chronic disease groups, health insurance plans, pharmaceutical companies, business organizations, consumer groups, as well as researchers and government agencies. The Script Your Future regional markets are Baltimore, Md.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Providence, RI; Raleigh, NC; and Sacramento, Calif.

Since its launch in 2011, the campaign has represented the interests of consumers and patients in providing materials in numerous languages through partnerships with pharmacies, hospitals, medical offices and clinics, and health insurance plans; hosted community events and health fairs across the country; partnered with local officials, and evaluated medication adherence awareness through research. The centerpiece of the first-of-its-kind, multi-year campaign is a website, www.ScriptYourFuture.org, which provides tools to support patient efforts to adhere to their prescribed medicine. Tools include free text message reminders, videos, sample questions, medication lists and charts to keep track of medicines, and fact sheets on common chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure.

To learn more about the campaign, visit www.ScriptYourFuture.org.

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Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League (NCL), a private, non-profit membership organization founded in 1899. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. The National Consumers League serves consumers across the country by providing government, businesses and other organizations with the consumer’s perspective on a range of concerns – including health care and medication information. As an advocacy organization, NCL is working to educate consumers and key health stakeholders on the importance of taking medication as directed. For more information about this campaign, visit www.ScriptYourFuture.org, and for more information on our other areas of focus, please visit www.nclnet.org.

June 28, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC-Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, issued the following statement on the US Senate’s confirmation of Howard Shelanksi as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget.

“OIRA has proven to be of critical importance to the health and welfare of consumers and workers.The Agency is tasked with reviewing rules proposed by federal Agencies and far too often, OIRA has locked up these important rules that protect both workers and consumers. To date, of the 139 rules under review at OIRA, 71 are well beyond the 90-day review limit imposed by Executive Order 12866. We are hopeful that the new Administrator, Howard Shelanski, will act in his new post to clear up this backlog and follow the law of underlying statutes under which regulations are reviewed.

“NCL calls upon Administrator Shelanski to bring life to what has become a calcified regulatory system. We are asking that he untangle and release the backlog of overdue regulations stuck at OIRA in violation of the required deadline for finishing reviews, and will work with other Administration officials to identify ways to help implement, among other acts, the silica rules, the backover regulations, rules on arsenic in juice and many other consumer and worker protection regulations. We stand ready to assist OIRA and Administrator Shelanski in the challenging tasks he has before him as the new Administrator of OIRA.” 

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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

June 26, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—In advance of the House of Representatives upcoming hearing on Thursday June 27, titled “School Meal Regulations: Discussing the Costs and Consequences for Schools and Students,” the National Consumers League (NCL) has issued the following statement reaffirming its support for The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA).  The following can be attributed to Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director.

“‘The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act’ mandates nutritious meals for our school children and provides increased funding to schools to make those meals possible. The act also fits nicely with first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, which is working to end childhood obesity in America. Though the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is merely fulfilling its congressional mandate, many have called these regulations misguided, pointing to instances in which high school students protest the introduction of healthier meals. Focusing on a few incidents obscures the Act’s importance to the overall health and welfare of our children. These science-based nutritional guidelines, which increase the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in school meals, work to improve the well-being of our school-aged kids, helping promote healthier physical development and higher academic performance. For all these reasons, NCL reaffirms its support for The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and will continue to work to support USDA in its moves towards full implementation.” 

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

June 20, 2013

Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

New York, NY—The below statement was issued by Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League (NCL), following the New York City Council’s hearing June 19, 2013 on ticketing.

“The National Consumers League thanks Chairman Daniel Garodnick and the Consumer Affairs Committee of the Council for recognizing the unfair marketplace consumers face when trying to buy live event tickets and for considering legislation to make this notoriously opaque industry more transparent. Too often, fans are shut out of seeing their favorite artists because tickets “sell out” in seconds. In truth, many fans never had a chance to get those tickets. What they don’t know is that the vast majority are too often pre-sold to fan clubs and special credit card customers or given away to industry insiders who then re-sell them for greatly inflated prices.

“We are also grateful that Kim Knox, Tony Fangel and Elissa Verill took time out to testify on their everyday experience, because they are real consumers that are being duped when tickets to popular concerts are not available.  This is nothing short of economic fraud and we need to make this marketplace far more open and fair to consumers.”

“We want transparency so that consumers are aware that for the most part, the cards are stacked against the them and can act accordingly. Hopefully this will force ticketing giants, concert promoters, artist management and industry executives to play fair so that the fan doesn’t end up time and again with short end of the stick,” said Kim Knox, an independent event producer.

Tony Fangel, a New York City resident, gave riveting testimony about his tragicomedy like experience trying to buy tickets to his favorite group, The Killers.  “It is absurd what happens in the New York City ticket market. I have gone to over 150 concerts in my life, most of them in New York. I was unable to get Killers tickets for four years because of the tickets being immediately sold out after trying to buy during the presale and the general sale right as they went on sale. Then they would end up on a website for twice the price. Something needs to be done,” said Tony Fangel.

Another witness before the Committee told a similar story. “My friends and I tried over and over to get tickets to the Governors Ball on Governors Island, we tried the first presale and right when the tickets went on sale, the screen froze for a few minutes only to come back and say they were sold out. We tried the second presale and the same thing happened. Finally, months later when regular sale came, the tickets were $300. If there was some transparency we could have made different plans and at least had a chance to go to the concert,” said Elissa Verilli. 

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.