Patients For Affordable Drugs Celebrates National Patient Advocacy Day by Honoring the Power of Patient Voices

New video follows three patient advocates as they travel to D.C. to share their stories on Capitol Hill and encourage others to speak up.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — August 19, 2026  — Today, on National Patient Advocacy Day, Patients For Affordable Drugs (P4AD) released a new video, Your Voice Is Your Power, celebrating some of the patients whose voices have helped shape the fight for more affordable prescription drugs. 

The video follows Kris Garcia and Amelia Schachter of Colorado, and Sarah Wisniewski of Maryland, as they travel to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress and share how the high cost of prescription drugs has affected their lives. Through their stories, the video demonstrates what can happen when patients share their experiences and use their voices to advocate for change. 

“Most patients who volunteer with us never imagined they’d become advocates,” said Merith Basey, CEO of Patients For Affordable Drugs. “Most patients never imagine being diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening condition. They become advocates because the exorbitant price of medicines leaves them no choice, and they are motivated to turn their outrage into action. Pharmaceutical companies may have enormous resources, but patients have something equally powerful: their stories. And when patients share those experiences, they have the power to influence policy and politicians —all the way to the White House.”

Every day, patients across the country help shape the conversation around prescription drug affordability by sharing their stories with lawmakers, speaking to reporters, and inspiring others to join the fight. Their lived experiences have helped ensure that patients—not pharmaceutical corporations—remain at the center of the debate over prescription drug prices.

Your Voice Is Your Power offers a glimpse into that work through the stories of three advocates:

• Kris Garcia is living with multiple bleeding disorders, asthma, and severe allergies, requiring medications that can cost tens of thousands of dollars during a medical emergency. Even carrying an EpiPen has become a financial decision, as the prescription costs him more than an emergency room visit. Kris shares his story because, as he says in the video, “They might have all that money, but we have our stories.”
• Sarah Wisniewski has lived with multiple sclerosis (MS) for the past decade and has spent years fighting repeated insurance denials for the medication her neurologist prescribed. Her advocacy is deeply personal: both she and her older sister are living with MS, and at times they have discussed splitting a single treatment because neither knew whether they would be able to access the medication they needed. As Sarah explains in the video, “I don’t really have a choice not to be here. My life is on the line. My older sister’s life is on the line.”
• Amelia Schachter is a retired oncology nurse and cancer survivor who has experienced the prescription drug affordability crisis from both sides of the exam room. Today, she struggles to afford the Botox injections she relies on to manage chronic migraines, forcing difficult decisions about her care. Determined to ensure other patients don’t face the same barriers, Amelia traveled to Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers what patients go through just to access the medicines they need. As she says in the video, “It’s David versus Goliath. The competition is stacked: money against people power. But people win.”

Kris, Sarah, and Amelia’s stories are just three among tens of thousands.

For nearly a decade, Patients For Affordable Drugs has collected and vetted more than 40,000 stories from patients in every state and every congressional district who are struggling to afford the prescription drugs they need. Those stories drive the organization’s work—from informing policymakers and shaping the national conversation to ensuring patients remain at the center of efforts to lower prescription drug prices.

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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies that lower prescription drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients by amplifying their experiences with high drug prices to hold those in power to account and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org.