Everyone Deserves Access to the Right Treatment: Lisa B.

Lisa was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2014 and without treatment, she says, “I would be in a wheelchair today.” Facing this serious autoimmune illness that can make it difficult even to fasten a button has made Lisa a passionate patient advocate. “As someone managing a psoriatic arthritis condition, I joined Voters for Cures because everyone deserves access to the medical innovations that work best for them. Every day, legislators in Washington, DC are making decisions that impact the health and well-being of patients across the U.S., like me, and the more individual voices are heard in that process, the better the policy outcomes will be.”

Advances in medical innovation and treatments have had an outsized role in her life, “it’s a wonder what today’s pharmaceuticals can do. I’ve been on a physician-administered biologic infusion to calm my immune system and slow down this disease. The medication has reduced my pain and fatigue and made life so much better.” Yet, despite the success of her treatment, Lisa is concerned about changes to Medicare that could make access more challenging. That’s why she feels strongly that policymakers need to hear from patients like her as they consider changes that could make it harder to access new medicines.