How can health-access advocates beat the wealthy pharmaceutical industry, which has the biggest spending lobby in Washington? Ramón Castellblanch provides a ringside seat at the battle as he reveals how activists in Vermont, Maine, and California took on Big Pharma in their state legislatures to promote better and cheaper access to prescription drugs—and ultimately pushed Congress to enact a Medicare prescription drug benefit. He also draws lessons from these cases about the possibilities for success elsewhere in the health policy arena, highlighting the crucial role that voters' righteous indignation plays in fueling popular support for grassroots political leaders who are taking on powerful business interests.
Ramón Castellblanch is associate professor of health education at San Francisco State University. Previously, he has been a health policy consultant for the California State Employees Association, health policy analyst for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and political action director for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
Also of interest:
Health Policy by James Brasfield and
Pill Politics by Stephen J. Ceccoli
"Castellblanch has captured the dramatic twists and turns of legislative battles in Maine, California, and other states between low-income seniors and the pharmaceutical industry over the price of prescription drugs…. A great read for anyone who wants to know why some efforts succeed and others fail."—Tom Allen, US House of Representatives, 1997-2008
"Lively, well-written portraits of battles between the Big Pharma industry and groups trying to constrain the costs of drugs.... the cases engage the reader with their detail, drama, and reversals. There are also concrete and valuable lessons to be learned here about confronting superior financial power in social movements and political mobilization."—Theodore R. Marmor, Yale University
