We have been working on programs to help Americans who can’t afford their medicines connect to the pharma programs that can help them. In our research, we discovered an ugly truth: 1.5 million U.S. Veterans have no prescription coverage, or health care of any kind, for that matter. Most Americans think that all Veterans get care from the Veterans Health Administration (VA).  I thought so too. So did a whole roomful of top pharma executives that we met with yesterday.  NOT TRUE.

A group of researchers out of Harvard analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2009 Current Population Survey, which surveyed Americans about their insurance coverage and veteran status, and found that 1,461,615 veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 were uninsured in 2008. Veterans were only classified as uninsured if they neither had health insurance nor received ongoing care at Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals or clinics.

“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor at Harvard Medical School who testified before Congress about uninsured veterans in 2007 and carried out the analysis. “As a result, veterans go without the care they need every day in the U.S., and thousands die each year. It’s a disgrace.”

Who doesn’t want to help the people who have served our country? That’s right, we all do. We are getting conversations started at pharma companies as to how we can provide our Veterans with free medications. And people are REALLY listening. Why? Because this matters. We can actually work together and solve this problem.

It’s doable, it’s right and it’s about time.