Wartburg College sophomore Hannah Radzwill recently spent a week in Washington, D.C., with the Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation lobbying for access to more affordable and equitable health care for everyone.
The political science and criminal justice major from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, got a firsthand look at life on Capitol Hill while lobbying for the Safe Step Act, which would establish some exceptions to medication step-therapy protocol that requires patients to try a less expensive drug before moving on to a more expensive one.
“I’ve worked with government and political stuff before, but this was a great experience to learn more about our legislators and our government,” Radzwill said. “I talked with several legislators from Minnesota and even a couple from Pennsylvania, and I learned they are not experts on the policies they are voting on. If you do your research about the topic you are talking about, you can make stuff happen.”
Radzwill’s interest in health care legislation isn’t just political. She was diagnosed with epilepsy in fourth grade and has been on different prescriptions, many of which cost hundreds of dollars a month after insurance, for years. Her grandmother, a breast cancer survivor who received help from PAN to subsidize her treatment, encouraged Radzwill to seek help when insurance denied her coverage of a prescription she needed.
At Wartburg, Radzwill is learning all she can about political science and has even taken an independent study course focused on political campaigns where she knocked on doors for candidates and talked to voters to ensure they have a plan for voting. After graduation, she wants to take her degree and help others in similar situations through work at a nonprofit or as a lawyer.
“Unfortunately, if the nonprofit doesn’t have good insurance, right now I wouldn’t be able to take the job because of the medications I am on,” she said.
She is hopeful for change. While in D.C., she was offered a summer internship with a Minnesota senator with a strong health care platform.
“It was a little scary talking to these people, but you just have to do it. Know what you want to say, research your position and state your piece,” she said. “That’s the best way to learn about something. I don’t know that I want to be a health care policy expert, but this experience really helped me decide that this is the kind of work I want to do.”