Everclear to advocate for patients’ rights ahead of Congressional Baseball Game

Before lawmakers batter up at the Congressional Baseball Game, they’ll have a chance to rock out as Everclear makes the push for patients’ rights.

The rock band, founded and fronted by Art Alexakis, will perform at a pre-game party Wednesday at the Bullpen across the street at Nationals Park ahead of Congress’s annual charity baseball game. The concert is hosted by Power to the Patients, a nonprofit that advocates for health care price transparency.

It’s a cause close to Alexakis’s heart, following his 2016 diagnosis with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, which he says “blindsided” him.

“I remember when the [hospital] bill came, I was out on the road and my wife opened it up,” the “Father of Mine” singer recalled in an interview with ITK.

“I went through it when I got home after [my wife] basically had an anxiety attack. They were charging me $19,000 for a titanium screw from my back. And $200 for an Advil. There’s got to be more transparency.”

“Luckily for me because of the success Everclear has had, I have pretty good insurance through SAG-AFTRA, through my union,” Alexakis, 61, said.

“But one of the things I noticed is that we don’t get to see what we’re paying for when anybody — whether you have insurance or not — goes into the hospital. And I always found that pretty bizarre because it’s like, would you go into a store, like a department store, to buy something if there was no prices?”

Everclear’s performance is poised to coincide with a trip to Capitol Hill this week by Power to the Patients leadership to support the Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency, or PATIENT Act, H.R. 3561. Supporters say the bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) will lower health care costs and improve transparency.

Power to the Patients made headlines when it brought rapper Fat Joe to a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner-related concert event in April.

It’s not the first time that Alexakis has headed to Washington with a message for lawmakers. In 2000, he testified before a House subcommittee to back federally enforced child support laws.

“I had a lot more sling back then when we were at the top of our game selling millions of records,” Alexakis said. “It’s not the same now, but I still got somewhat of a voice and somewhat of a much smaller bully pulpit to talk from, but hopefully, if people listen to me, it’s me talking about things that I understand. I understand about patient’s rights — that’s something that’s very important to me.”

Everclear released protest song “Year of the Tiger” last year. Asked if being in Washington might inspire his songwriting, the Grammy Award-nominated guitarist, who’s marking his 34th year of sobriety this week, quipped with a laugh, “It inspires me to want to start drinking again!”

“I’m joking,” he exclaimed, before adding, “kind of.”