EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
Drug prices are out of control for seniors
I am very troubled over the rise
of drug prices by pharmaceutical
companies. More than 3,400
drugs have reportedly boosted
prices in the first six months
of 2019.
The average price hike is
said to be 10 percent, which is
five times the rate of inflation.
Another 41 drugs have reportedly
boosted their prices by
100 percent.
I can attest to that. I’m 70
years old and my wife and myself
are both on Social Security and
Medicare plus supplemental
insurance. And yet we struggle
with drug price increases. I’m
working part-time to pay for
some of these higher costs for my
wife and myself.
The other day I put in a
prescription for medication
which I have paid for about $15 to
$18 over the last few years. Now I
am told it is now $30. Well, that’s
about 100 percent increase in
my co-pay.
I thought Congress was to
address this problem for the
millions of Americans paying
excessive prices for their
medication. What’s that all
about? It has come down to this:
paying for medication or buying
food, paying rent or paying
the mortgage.
This is a most sad situation.
Something needs to be done
and now!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen
Oaks Village
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REACTING TO TRUMP
A White House official said that all members
of Congress were invited to the White House
signing ceremony to permanently reauthorize
the 9/11 Victims Compensation fund, but
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the lead
author of the legislation, said she never received
an invitation.
Maloney’s spokeswoman added that neither
did a staff member received one on her behalf.
Maloney was noticeably absent during the
Rose Garden event which spared her from
hearing some cringe-worthy comments that
President Donald Trump made to nearly 60 first
responders who were in attendance along with
their families.
When he invited them all on stage for a photo
op, the President joked that it may not hold them
all but if it collapsed, they are not going to fall
very far. Maybe not his best choice of words?
He also said he was “down there” meaning at
Ground Zero where the first responders worked
for month breathing in the toxic chemicals that
have caused so many to die from 9/11-related
cancers and other respiratory diseases in the
years since.
“I spent a lot of time down there with you,”
the President said to a stone silent crowd. It was
an applause line that elicited none.
One Queens lawmaker has seen enough.
State Senator James Sanders Jr. called
for the U.S. House of Representatives
to begin impeachment proceedings
against President Trump basing his
decision on the recent testimony by
Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
But with the current state of D.C. politics,
where Republicans hold sway in the Senate,
impeachment and removal of Trump from office
is not likely to happen.
Sanders should return to Albany after the
summer break and get to work on a new election
law such as the one California enacted this
week. The Golden State’s “Presidential Tax
Transparency and Accountability Act,” signed
into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, will force
Trump to release his tax returns in order to get
on the state’s 2020 primary ballot.
The time for talking has long passed. It is
now time to draft meaningful legislation to
make sure this doesn’t happen again, and that
all presidential candidates fully disclose their
finances for the public’s consideration.
Americans like presidents who at least act
like they have nothing to hide.
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TIMESLEDGER,16 AUG. 2-8, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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