Action Alert: Proposed Senate Tax Plan & the Direct Impact on Our Community

Call & Email Your Senators Today!

Yesterday, the Senate released the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which includes many issues that we feel an obligation to alert you to.

While PPMD does not typically engage in legislation related to tax reform, this proposal (being referred to as the ‘Republican Tax Plan’) contains elements that will have a direct impact on our community — your family – and others living with complex diseases. This is actually NOT a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is another moment where it doesn’t matter what party you are registered with — but the lens through which we view policies and priorities. And within this context, we are all a part of the Duchenne community. ‘The Duchenne Party’, if you will. Our community has spent two decades creating strong relationships with Members of Congress on both sides of the aisles. Republicans and Democrats who care about our families and the issues that impact us.

We must reach out to them and let them know how these issues in particular will directly impact us. And we must do so immediately.

While there are many issues within this plan that may be of concern to you through the broader lens of your family and community, these are the issues we need to bring to your attention through the lens of Duchenne:

• Elimination of Itemized Tax Deductions for Medical Expenses
  • The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would not repeal any major part of Obamacare but it DOES ELIMINATE a critical deduction for people with high medical expenses. The proposed legislation repeals the itemized deduction for medical expenses. If passed, it will take effect next year.  
• Eliminates Tax Deductions for Contributions to Medical Savings Accounts
  • The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would also eliminate the deductibility of contributions to Archer medical savings accounts.
• Repeals the Orphan Drug Tax Credit (ODTC)
  • The Orphan Drug Tax Credit was established in the 1983 Orphan Drug Act and has been a critical incentive in bringing industry into the rare disease space and this repeal would directly result in 33% fewer orphan drugs coming to market (according to NORD).

These elements of this legislation are a direct hit on our Duchenne community and those with complex medical conditions. They will immediately impact the financial burden on personal households and threaten to slow drug development and innovation into treatments and cures for Duchenne.

We must reach out and call our Senators today. 

Consider discussing:

• Do you deduct medical expenses? If so, share what percentage of your income this represents and what a tremendous hit this would be for your family.
• Do you utilize a medical savings account? 
• And in Duchenne — we have gone from having ZERO pharmaceutical companies in our space in the late 80s to now more than 40 companies conducting more than a dozen human clinical trials. The Orphan Drug Tax Credit is working. We can not afford to disincentivize therapy development in Duchenne.

Please call today! Please encourage your friends and family to do the same.

This is not a Republican or Democratic issue.

This is a Duchenne issue.