The cost of drugs is the driving force behind the accelerating price of health coverage and threatens the future of Obamacare. The latest example is the 500 percent increase increase in cost of the EpiPen allergy drug while the the annual pay of CEO, Heather Bresch, soared to $18.9 million.
It is no accident that “Pharma CEOs are paid 71 percent more than median in S&P 500” according to USA Today. The government can’t negotiate for generic drugs in Medicare D, drug companies are protected for seven years and then buy their competition and keep charging exorbitant prices. And, meanwhile prices to the consumers, most on fixed incomes continue to climb.
Congress, happy to swim in lobbyist money, do nothing as usual and consumers wonder why drugs are much less expensive in Canada and Europe. It’s simple: The rich have rigged the system to take advantage of the average consumer once again for their own gain.
Tom Minnerick, Elgin
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Black community being decimated
“Senseless” was Dwayne Wade’s description of the fatal shooting of his cousin who was pushing a baby stroller down a South Side street. The word had been used by others after innocents were unintended victims of gang shootings, but Wade’s condemnation was headline news because he is a Bulls star. But while civil rights activists rail against the mass incarceration of black men, ordinary citizens are demanding that thugs and gangbangers be taken off the streets. This is not agreement with Donald Trump, who claims that the entire inner city is doomed unless he is elected president, but an outcry to stop the decimation of the black community.
Hosea L. Martin, Bronzeville
Impulse control
CTA bus drivers urgently need a course in impulse control. Do you think there is a driver who can drive a bus for one day without touching the horn? How about one hour?
Their thoughtless, annoying horn blowing says more about them than they might possibly imagine. Whatever happened to frustration tolerance?
Leon J. Hoffman, Lake View
Not fair
This zeitgeist of dishonesty perpetrated upon Hillary Clinton by the GOP is not factual and not fair.
First, it was Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. After 11 hours of testimony, under oath, to a Republican dominated committee, no “guilt” was found. Next it was the constant drumbeat about emails. Clinton stated that having a private server was a mistake. It was federally investigated and considered “careless” but no actual wrong doing was uncovered and there were no security breaches.
Now the mob frenzy is about “pay to play” at the Clinton Foundation. There are calls to shutter their “problematic foundation” because 3 percent of donors requested meetings with Clinton. Does everyone understand that the Foundation runs programs that provide free medical care and drugs to thousands of people world wide who would otherwise die without it?
With the most intense scrutiny, Hillary Clinton has been found to have done nothing illegal — ever.
Can Donald Trump say the same? Where are the tax returns?
Carol Kraines, Deerfield
Unappealing name
Guaranteed Rate Field — not only the most unappealing name for our White Sox, but also pretty much the dumbest name I have heard for a ballpark. Insurance companies should be using the excess money that allows them to purchase the naming rights and offer insurance discounts to their insured members.
Insurance companies that continue to raise our premiums every single year should be ashamed that not only are making major profits and that bigwigs get major bonuses, yet those of us on their plans pay huge premiums?
Diane Rack, Hoffman Estates
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