Lost in all the chaos surrounding the failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act is a modest but important effort to reform healthcare. The Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act currently before Congress would achieve significant strides in making cutting-edge treatments available to patients who need them most.
Introduced in January by Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and co-sponsored by 45 other Senators including Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine), the bill is named after a Wisconsin mother of three who died in 2015 after a battle with ALS. Her daughter Tealyn poignantly explained why the legislation is necessary: without access to the newest treatments, “it feels like you're stuck, like the government is in charge of your life and they haven't been in your shoes either.”
