Charleston Gazette-Mail. March 1, 2024
Editorial: Living in a GOP echo chamber costs WV
Examples of the West Virginia Legislature, controlled by a Republican supermajority, cutting the public out of the legislative process have been numerous in recent years and examined in great detail. Yet, the continuing examples of either willing obstinance or ignorant bliss from never having to listen to anyone who disagrees with those in power leading to bad policy continue to astound.
Last week, the Legislature, in its Capitol bubble, moved on two bills that would cut unemployment benefits while, at the same time in the outside world, 1,000 West Virginians learned that they were losing their jobs as Weirton-based Cleveland-Cliffs announced massive layoffs. Around the same time, Allegheny Wood Products announced that it was shutting down, costing another 600 jobs in various parts of the state.
The irony and cruelty of pushing such policies at the worst imaginable time didn’t escape anyone other than state lawmakers. Senate Bill 841, which cuts benefit payments the longer someone is unemployed, overwhelming passed the state Senate on Wednesday (the final day for legislation to clear its house of origin).
Prior to that, the Senate passed a bill making it harder for lower-income and unemployed West Virginians to get food stamps, putting work requirements in place despite the fact that similar efforts in other states have shown such requirements bloat the administrative costs of government and do nothing to shift workforce engagement.
However, it’s doubtful many in the Legislature know or care how callous these policies seem or how counterproductive they actually are. Listening isn’t their strong suit.
This particular Legislature would rather punish the poor and unemployed as the criminals lawmakers believe they are, while making schools less safe (both by loosening immunization requirements and allowing teachers to carry guns), making librarians subject to criminal prosecution if there’s something on a book shelf someone doesn’t like and toying with legislation that would basically say gay and transgender people don’t exist.
At the same time, West Virginia remains one of the poorest, unhealthiest and least-educated states in the nation. Health care access is abysmal. Many children are starving. The foster care system is overrun with thousands of children removed from situations of abuse or neglect. There aren’t enough nurses. There aren’t enough teachers. Jobs are coming in, but jobs are also leaving. Population decline continues. Overdose death rates remain among the highest in the nation, as are HIV and hepatitis rates related to sharing syringes to use illicit drugs.
Do those issues even matter to West Virginia lawmakers? Do they exist outside of the Legislature’s cone of silence? It sure doesn’t seem like it. But when you don’t have to listen to anyone, why would you?
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Herald-Dispatch. March 2, 2024.
Editorial: Problem of pharmacy deserts requires a consumer-based solution
The number of pharmacies in West Virginia is shrinking. As communities become “pharmacy deserts,” people find they have fewer options for obtaining the medicines they need.
It’s a problem common to many industries, including groceries, banking and health care. Consolidation brings fewer options, and the options that are available often don’t work in favor of the consumer.
The concept of the corner drug store operated by a local pharmacist is all but dead. The distribution of medications has been taken over by chains, mail order providers and others who are farther removed from the individual patient.
As noted by The Herald-Dispatch reporter Jesten Richardson this past week, West Virginia lawmakers and Marshall University faculty members are working to solve the problem of pharmacy deserts that could leave residents vulnerable.
A pharmacy desert in an urban area occurs when the area is more than one mile away from a pharmacy. In a rural area, it’s when the area is at least 10 miles from a pharmacy, according to Thomas Pile, clinical assistant professor in Marshall’s School of Pharmacy.
Pile said West Virginia has 11 regions that have been identified as pharmacy deserts when going by the rural definition, and those regions are primarily in the northern part of the state. They exist in the southern part of the state, also.
Late last year, Gov. Jim Justice asked Walgreens to reconsider its decision to close its store in the Tucker County town of Parsons. It was a logical request, considering what losing the store means to that community of about 1,322 people.
Tucker County’s population is about 6,672. Neither the town of Parsons nor Tucker County registers as important to the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain, but the store’s presence is important to the people of the town and the county.
It’s the same in this area, where demographic trends and industry consolidation has led to fewer pharmacies.
Part of the problem lies in the power of pharmacy benefit managers — middlemen who manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of health insurers. Pile told Richardson pharmacy benefit managers are being looked at on a federal level and at the state level.
“It’s something that needs to be regulated in order for pharmacies to remain viable, especially in our state, where we’re struggling,” Pile said.
“What we’re seeing really is pharmacies are getting paid less. Patients are … paying more for prescription drugs,” Pile said. “So, where is the discrepancy here? Where is the money going? And it’s the pharmacy benefit manager, the person who’s sort of wedged in the middle of a transaction.”
So what’s the answer? The ideal solution is a customer-centered plan that gets prescription medication to the consumer in the most convenient manner at the lowest price that provides an adequate and reasonable profit for all involved. This requires a variety of delivery methods. Some people prefer to have their medicines delivered to their doors. Others prefer face-to-face contact with their pharmacist or pharmacist technician.
It’s a complicated problem, and the solution won’t be easy. At some point, consolidation works against consumers. That’s why we have anti-monopoly laws. From food deserts to pharmacy deserts, steps must be taken to bring vital services closer to the people they serve.
As has been noted here before, if the governor and others want pharmacies, food stores and similar businesses in smaller communities, they must create the business, legal and regulatory environments to support them.
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The Intelligencer. March 5, 2024.
Editorial: Protecting W.Va. Kids the Priority
West Virginia lawmakers have been playing a dangerous game this session with some of the legislation that’s been moving. Consider House Bill 5105, which eliminates the vaccine requirement for students participating in statewide virtual public schools or future county-level virtual public charter schools. HB 5105 also expands vaccine exemptions to students attending private or parochial schools. The measure has passed the House but has not yet moved in the Senate.
The legislation also creates a religious exemption for all vaccines in public and private schools as long as a parent or guardian presents a letter stating the reasons for the religious exemption request.
Despite being dressed up in disingenuous language about freedom, this bill is supported by nothing but baseless conspiracy theories and unfounded fears we have been battling as a state since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lawmakers’ assault on our kids simply must be stopped.
Delegate Bob Fehrenbacher, R-Wood, was right to try, by reading from reports that showed proof of success for vaccination efforts. What a shame not enough were listening.
It seems almost a deliberate attempt to knock down the Mountain State from one of the very few rankings in which we are at the top.
“We’re number one in childhood immunizations,” said House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell. “That should be very important to us. We shouldn’t chip away at that.”
If we do, it is nothing but a deadly “race to the bottom,” as Hornbuckle put it.
Why would we want that for our children? They cannot defend themselves; it is up to us to stand for them.
Surely reason will prevail. What a tragedy for Mountain State kids if it does not.
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