Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 3-17-22 E-Edition

Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Guest Column
Biden administration
misses chance to reduce
prescription drug costs
By Carl Schmid
Guest columnist
President Biden has repeatedly promised to make health care more affordable. And his administration has taken some important steps. But sadly, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just passed up an opportunity to save patients millions at the pharmacy.
In December, CMS released a draft of its annual rule regulating how private insurance plans must operate in the year ahead.
Some of what CMS has proposed will certainly ben- efit many patients. For example, the new rule requires insurers who operate on the federal health exchange to include among their offerings standardized plans that include fixed-dollar-amount "copays" rather than "coinsurance."
The proposed rule also warns insurers against re- quiring high coinsurance rates for all of the medica- tions prescribed to treat a particular health condition. It clearly states that insurers cannot discriminate against beneficiaries based on their health condition and expected health needs.
But in one key area, the proposed rule falls short — in a way that would be easy for CMS to rectify with a small revision when the rule is finalized.
The problem concerns how insurers treat the finan- cial assistance that drug makers often provide directly to patients. This assistance totaled $14 billion in 2019 — reducing patients' costs and thus helping them afford their prescriptions and follow their doctors' orders.
The proposed rule, however, allows insurers not to count this patient assistance toward a policyholder's annual out-of-pocket maximum. That's an option more and more insurers are taking advantage of.
To understand how unfair this is, consider a hypo- thetical. If a working-class patient receives $1,000 from a relative, or a local charity, to help cover a copay or co- insurance, insurers would count that spending towards her out-of-pocket maximum. But if the patient receives the same $1,000 from a drug company, those insurers wouldn't count it.
By refusing to do so, insurance companies both col- lect the $1,000 in financial assistance from the drug manufacturer while at the same time requiring the pa- tient to pay that amount out-of-pocket.
The issue of how to treat this copay assistance di- rectly impacts patients' health.
If taken properly, prescription drugs keep patients healthy and out of hospitals and doctors' offices. But when patients fail to take their medicines due to cost concerns, they end up sicker, often requiring expensive hospital care.
Co-pay assistance can boost drug adherence and thus lower overall health spending — but only if pa- tients can actually realize the savings.
Twelve states and Puerto Rico have already passed laws requiring insurers to count manufacturer copay assistance toward beneficiaries' annual out-of-pocket maximums.
But it's a national problem and needs a national solu- tion. In Congress, Reps. Donald McEachin (D-VA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) have introduced a bipartisan bill, HR 5801, to address it directly by law. In the mean- time, the Biden administration could easily solve it by revising the final rule — a big step toward fulfilling its promise to make drugs more affordable.
Carl Schmid is executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, which promotes high- quality, affordable health care for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions. Follow the HIV+Hepatitis Policy In- stitute on Twitter: @HIVHep
Reedley High athletic upgrades set the stage for the school's future
Fred Hall — Publisher Emeritus Jon Earnest — Editor
Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Thursday, March 17, 2022 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
These are exciting times for Reedley High School's athletic programs.
School and Kings Canyon Unified School District of- ficials hosted a media tour on March 10 to show off the school's newest athletic facili- ties. The tour lived up to the school's label of "RHS Athlet- ics: New facilities, new league, new energy." That's hardly a surprise, given the district's recent $10 million infusion of funds to improve facilities as the school prepares to enter the newly-formed Tri-County Athletic Conference in 2022-23.
The improvements should be a game-changer as the Pi- rates leave the North Yosemite League (all Fresno schools) and realign with former Central Se- quoia League members Central Valley Christian, Exeter, Han- ford West, crosstown school Immanuel, Kerman, Kings- burg, Selma, Sierra Pacific from Hanford and Washington
Union. Reedley enters the new partnership with the following big upgrades:
• A new varsity baseball stadium ($2.7 million) that in- cludes elevated bleacher seat- ing for 344 people, concrete dugouts and modernized rest- rooms, concessions and ticket booth;
• A new field house ($3.1 million) that includes two classroom/team rooms, a girls wrestling room, restrooms and coach's office. This also includes modernization to the school's weight and boys wres- tling room;
• A new softball complex ($2.5 million) that includes el- evated bleacher seating for 344 people, elevated viewing deck, concrete block dugouts and storage facility, modernized restrooms and ticket booth and new scoreboards; and
• A new soccer complex ($1.5 million) that includes new field and field lighting, safety
netting systems and a new tick- et booth/entry gate. Soon to be built will be ad- ditional bleach- er seating and new restrooms/ concession fa- cilities.
Jon Earnest
Americans would pay a heavy price for amnesty
By Mark Thies
Guest columnist
Democratic leaders on Capi- tol Hill are scrambling to find a way to amnesty illegal immi- grants in their nearly $2 trillion budget bill.
The Senate parliamentarian, who decides what provisions can and can't be included in the bill that's being advanced under the filibuster-proof "reconcilia- tion" process, shot down their first two proposals. So now, lawmakers are proceeding with "Plan C" — which would grant illegal immigrants "parole," a status that gives illegal immi- grants work permits and a re- prieve from deportation, with- out immediately granting them green cards.
Lawmakers are also plotting to expand legal immigration levels. All told, their current plan would increase the number of immigrants living and work- ing in this country by several million people at a minimum.
Such rapid growth will put immense strain on our resourc- es, both financial and natural, and the ensuing damage to our environment threatens to set progress there back by a gen- eration or more.
Our country is not under-
populated by any reasonable reckoning. Schools are already overcrowded, especially for young children. California, for instance, would need to build a new school every day for five years to provide class sizes of 15-19 students. Over the next 50 years, immigration is set to account for 96 percent of the increase in school-age children.
Mass migration is making life more difficult — and ex- pensive — for working-class citizens. Just like everyone else, migrants need a roof over their heads —so they compete against low-income Americans for our scarce supply of rental housing. Nationally, the median rent has surged more than 16 percent since January, in part because of competition from new arrivals.
Environmental groups pre- tend to be blissfully unaware that adding so many people to the population does irreparable harm to the environment.
Transportation is another ex- ample: more people mean more cars, gas or electric, creating more traffic and more emis- sions (electric cars pollute too -- albeit at the power plant, rather than the tailpipe). More devel- opment requires the clearing of woods and fields to make way
for pavement and parking lots. Federal data shows that around 90 percent of open space lost in the past decade —both urban and rural -- can be attributed to population growth. Yes, more and more of our unique outdoor heritage is being lost.
This sprawl comes with se- rious environmental and health consequences, threatening wet- lands critical for clean water and flood protection as well as harming endangered species. The American Southwest, in particular, faces a dystopian future of water shortages as its population skyrockets. Lake Powell just above the Grand Canyon is now at 29 percent of capacity, an all-time low, an astounding 156 feet below full capacity.
Poll after poll shows that am- nesty is unpopular — as we all see right before our very eyes that such an unsustainable flood of migrants is worsening the quality of life for all. The only question is whether our leaders will grow backbones before it's too late.
Mark Thies, Ph.D. is an En- gineering Professor at Clemson University whose research is focused on energy and sustain- ability. This piece originally ran in The Hill.
QUOTE
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
— Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
There's already been big positives. The boys soccer team won the Division I section title and already have hosted a state playoff game; and the other affected sports also have seen benefits.
Its important to invest in success, and a foundation has been laid for that very success in the TCAC for the Pirates. Credit goes to the district for making the valuable invest- ment.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
Letters Policy
MID VALLEY TIMES invites letters from the public on any topic of local relevance. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or brev- ity, and we reserve the right to NOT publish them if they could be deemed libelous or profane. Letters should be 350 words or less, and bear the author's name, address, and phone number. Letters can be mailed, emailed, submitted via our website, or personally delivered to: Editor, Mid Valley Times, 1130 G St, Reedley CA 93654.
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