Hello, my name is Aly Elbaga and I am 82 years old and living in Old Bridge, New Jersey. I am a retired chemist now on Medicare and living with heart flutters. Due to my condition, I have been taking Eliquis, Trelegy, and Propafenone, which are all expensive medications with high copays. 

As a retired person, high expenses are hard to deal with. To mitigate this, I have sometimes skipped doses of my medication. A notable time in which I did this was when I was diagnosed with lymphoma 12 years ago and have continued to struggle to pay the cost of my treatment since then.

Today, these high prices are literally eating up my Social Security income. The drugs can cost more than half of my income and certainly do not keep up with the pace of inflation. Furthermore, I’m unable to enjoy leisure activities due to the struggles of the cost of medical treatment and collection agencies. I am unable to buy myself new shoes, clothes, or anything new for that matter. 

We need lower-cost prescription drugs now because this situation is unfair to me and many others. 

It is not right that Big Pharma CEOs make millions of dollars selling drugs while patients, like me, struggle to afford them and therefore suffer.