Advocates to meet with legislators at Allergy & Asthma Day Capitol Hill

Key takeaways:

• The 28th annual event will involve in-person meetings between patients and legislators.
• Legislative priorities include the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act and pharmacy benefit manager reform.

Families, physicians and other stakeholders will be in Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators and advocate for change on Wednesday, May 7, as part of Allergy & Asthma Day Capitol Hill.

Sponsored by Allergy & Asthma Network, the 28th annual event will connect patients with their representatives in the House and Senate.

“It’s a very empowering event. People who show up are really excited to be on Capitol Hill to meet their legislators,” Lynda Mitchell, CEO of Allergy & Asthma Network, told Healio. “It’s a great experience to really let you tell your story.”

The goal is to raise awareness about issues important to people with asthma, allergies and related conditions and how the legislative process can help advance their priorities, so they have better health outcomes and quality of life, she said.

More than 125 advocates from 29 states and the District of Columbia attended 2024’s Capitol Hill Day in person, and 914 took part in an email campaign.

“That creates a powerful, two-way approach to telling our legislative leaders what issues are important to people in our community,” Mitchell said.

To help prepare participants, Allergy & Asthma Network provides an information packet including materials such as fact sheets outlining the organization’s positions on legislation that they can leave with their legislators.

About a week before the event, Allergy & Asthma Network also will host a webinar to provide participants with tips and strategies and outline what they can expect during the day.

“But most importantly, the morning of the event, we have a breakfast meeting, and that meeting is to get everybody set on a lot of issues that we will cover that day,” Mitchell said.

The breakfast will feature speakers including patients telling their stories about why the Capitol Hill Day matters to them. Travis A. Miller, MD, chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) Advocacy Council, is also scheduled to speak.

Allergy & Asthma Network is now reviewing legislation for participants to prioritize during the event, including the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act, which is S. 341 in the Senate and H.R. 903 in the House.

This legislation would establish a grant program that would support local communities in detecting, preparing for, communicating about or mitigating the environmental and public health impacts of wildfire smoke and extreme heat by amending the Clean Air Act.

“We’ve all witnessed, sadly, what’s been going on with people who can’t breathe when there’s wildfires and who end up in emergency rooms due to heat and smoke,” Mitchell said. “We want to make sure that we have good laws in place to try to support those folks.”

Allergy & Asthma Network also supports pharmacy benefit manager reform, Mitchell said.

“That issue really negatively impacts patients,” she said.

Doctors may determine what medication patients need, Mitchell explained. But upon arriving at the pharmacy, patients may find out that a pharmacy benefit manager has decided the insurance company should deny the prescription or require prior authorization.

“It could cause a delay or a gap in care, and we don’t want that to happen,” she said. “We want people to walk out of the pharmacy with a prescription that will keep their health in good shape.”

Mitchell counted the School-Based Allergies and Asthma Management Program Act, which was signed into law in 2021, as one of the event’s previous successes and noted that the group also has always supported students’ rights to carry inhalers and epinephrine in school.

Also, Mitchell noted that Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) are among the community’s supporters.

“Having people who understand and support allergy and asthma issues through the Allergy and Asthma Caucus can help us advance our priorities in Congress,” she said.

Allergy & Asthma Network has partnered with Soapbox Consulting to manage the logistics of arranging meetings between advocates and legislators.

“We give everybody an app that they can use to be in direct contact with the Soapbox staff,” Mitchell said. “It’s a really powerful add-on to our Capitol Hill Day so that people feel comfortable and supported.”

Allergy & Asthma Network also has partnered with the ACAAI and its Strike Force, which will send physicians to Capitol Hill to discuss policy priorities with legislators on May 6 before joining patients and families in their meetings on May 7.

“We have a wonderful partnership with ACAAI,” Mitchell said. “They are a strong voice when we get into these meetings with legislators and talk about the medical aspects of health policy and legislation.”

Looking ahead, Mitchell said that the organization will continue to monitor changes in policy with the new presidential administration.

“We want to make sure that whatever the changes are don’t adversely affect people with asthma and allergies,” she said. “We’re watching the landscape and seeing what issues we might need to speak up about and making sure our constituents know that there might be changes coming, but we’re here for them, and we’ll be advocating on their behalf.”

Mitchell invited everyone in the allergy and asthma community to get involved by registering for the event online, especially those who have not participated before. A limited number of travel scholarships is available for those who might not be able to cover expenses on their own.

“You leave inspired, knowing that you can have a voice on Capitol Hill, and you can make a difference,” Mitchell said.

References:

• Allergy & Asthma Day Capitol Hill 2024: Advocating for health equity. https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/news/allergy-asthma-advocacy-aadch-2024/. Revised Nov. 11, 2024; Accessed Feb. 17, 2025.
• The Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act. https://mikethompson.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/mikethompson.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Smoke%20and%20Heat%20Ready%20Communities%20Act%20-REP.%20THOMPSON%20%28CA-04%29.pdf. Published Jan. 31, 2025. Accessed Feb. 17, 2025.

For more information:

Lynda Mitchell can be reached at lmitchell@allergyasthmanetwork.org.