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Tag: Medicare Part D

  • Ken Paxton’s undercover operation risks law enforcement officers’ safety | Opinion

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    What kind of attorney general announces a supposedly secret plan before it’s over?

    What kind of attorney general announces a supposedly secret plan before it’s over?

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    Intolerable

    Ken Paxton is the most incompetent attorney general Texas has ever had. His announcement of an undercover operation to infiltrate so-called “leftist” groups proves it. (Oct. 12, 1C, “Ken Paxton is absolutely ridiculous. It’s because he’s losing”)

    Such operations should not be disclosed until an investigation concludes. Paxton risks endangering law enforcement officers. I hope the groups he’s targeting sue to stop his attempts to distract voters from his scandals.

    In 2027, he should be out of office. What he has done as an elected official would not be tolerated elsewhere.

    – John Davis, Fort Worth

    ‘Not for me’

    I agree with the Star-Telegram’s Oct. 12 editorial on Pride Kel-So (C6, “How Tarrant leaders should have responded to church pride event”). Tarrant County Commissioner Matt Krause, Judge Tim O’Hare and Keller Mayor Armin Mizani could have said simply that the LGBTQ-friendly event at a Southlake church “is not for me” and moved on instead of turning it into a controversy.

    I also appreciate how the editorial emphasized that Pride events aren’t inherently sexual and compared their level of innuendo to classic cartoons such as Looney Tunes. This comparison clearly puts things into perspective, showing how unreasonable it is to condemn events such as Pride Kel-So as inappropriate for children, when they’re no more suggestive than the cartoons many kids watch.

    – Marshall Carroll, Fort Worth

    Credit due

    I’m a proud liberal who always votes for the Democratic candidate in the hopes of building a better nation and society for our future, and I despise most of President Donald Trump’s behavior and actions. But he deserves congratulations for helping implement the hostage exchange in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and I hope he continues working to bring peace to the Middle East.

    Now, if he would stop using the U.S. military to patrol American cities, that would be nice, too.

    – Mark Bauer, Haslet

    Medicare reality

    Merrill Matthews wrote in the Oct. 12 guest commentary ”Medicare Part D premiums are soaring under Biden’s IRA now” (6C) that the average monthly cost now is $179.45 and is expected to jump next year to $239.27.

    My wife and I, age 71 and 77 respectively, have been on Part D for six years, and each pays less than $90 per month. No co-pays have suddenly appeared where there were none before.

    Matthews obviously has a political agenda, but it does not jibe with the facts of our cases.

    – Tracey Smith, Fort Worth

    Real impact

    U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman’s paltry concession of halting his paycheck during the government shutdown pales compared with the dark times that will be upon us with the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill. (Oct. 10, 1A, “2 area congressmen pause paychecks during shutdown”)

    Goldman will receive back pay once the shutdown is over. Why doesn’t he offer to really make a difference by putting it into a fund l to help the thousands of his constituents who will lose Medicaid and food-assistance benefits?

    – Preston Matthiesen, Fort Worth

    Leftist wishes

    Senate Democrats have fully exposed their true colors, voting many times to keep the government shut down. This is a crisis intentionally created by Democrats to hold the American people hostage for a left-wing wish list. .

    For weeks, Democrats have put their priorities ahead of hardworking Americans. President Donald Trump and budget director Russ Vought are using every tool they can to secure pay for our troops, Border Patrol, law enforcement officers and essential services.

    Texans appreciate Sen. Ted Cruz for holding Senate Democrats’ feet to the fire to pass a clean resolution to keep the government open. Trump and Vought are fighting to ensure the federal government serves the American people, not Democratic political games and interests.

    – Cyndie Lasher, Arlington

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  • Federal judge declines to block Medicare drug price negotiations

    Federal judge declines to block Medicare drug price negotiations

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    A pharmacist holds a bottle of the drug Eliquis, made by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, January 9, 2020.

    George Frey | Reuters

    A federal judge on Friday declined to block the Biden administration from implementing Medicare drug price negotiations, upholding for now a controversial process that aims to make costly medications more affordable for older Americans.

    Judge Michael Newman of the Southern District of Ohio issued a ruling denying a preliminary injunction sought by the Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest lobbying groups in the country, which aimed to block the price talks before Oct. 1.

    That date is the deadline for manufacturers of the first 10 drugs selected for negotiations to agree to participate in the talks.

    But Newman, a nominee of former president Donald Trump, also declined to grant the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss the case entirely.

    Instead, he asked the Chamber to amend its complaint by Oct. 13 to clarify certain details in the case.

    Newman also gave the Biden administration until Oct. 27 to renew its motion to dismiss the case.

    He said “a final determination on standing issues will be made following a short (60-day) discovery period and—assuming they are filed—renewed motions to dismiss.”

    The ruling from Newman is a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, which views the process as a threat to its revenue growth, profits and drug innovation.

    President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in a party-line vote last year, gave Medicare the power to directly hash out drug prices with manufacturers for the first time in the federal program’s nearly 60-year history

    The Chamber, which represents some companies in the industry, and drugmakers like Merck and Johnson & Johnson filed at least eight separate lawsuits in recent months seeking to declare the negotiations unconstitutional. But the Chamber’s suit was the only one seeking a preliminary injunction. 

    Michael Newman, U.S. District Court Judge Ohio

    Source: U.S. District Court

    The Chamber’s lawsuit argues that the program violates drugmakers’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment by giving the government the power to effectively dictate prices for their medicines.

    The Chamber said an appeals court established a precedent that when the government sets prices, it must provide procedural safeguards to ensure a company receives a reasonable rate and fair return on investment. It stems from the 2001 case Michigan Bell Telephone Co. v. Engler, according to the Chamber.

    The Medicare negotiations do not provide these safeguards and impose price caps that are well below a drug’s market value, the Chamber argued.

    “There is a very, very high risk, maybe a guarantee, but certainly a very, very high risk, that this regime will result in prices that are unfair,” Jeffrey Bucholtz, an attorney for the Chamber, told judge Newman during a hearing earlier this month.

    He added that drugmakers either must agree to the price the government sets, or face an excise tax of up to 1,900% of U.S. sales of the drug.

    But lawyers for the DOJ said during the hearing that the program was far from compulsory. Drugmakers can choose the alternative to those two options: Withdraw their voluntary participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to attorney Brian Netter. 

    “The measure of relief here is for manufacturers to decide whether they want to stay in the program under the terms that are on offer,” Netter said. “If they choose not to, that’s their prerogative.”

    The other suits are scattered in federal courts around the U.S.

    Legal experts say the pharmaceutical industry hopes to obtain conflicting rulings from federal appellate courts, which could fast-track the issue to the Supreme Court. 

    Medicare covers roughly 66 million people in the U.S., according to health policy research organization KFF. The drug price talks are expected to save the insurance program an estimated $98.5 billion over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office said. 

    In August, the Biden administration unveiled the 10 drugs that will be subject to the first round of price talks, officially kicking off a lengthy negotiation process that will end in August 2024. The reduced prices for those initial medications won’t go into effect until January 2026.

    That includes blood thinners from Bristol-Myers Squibb and J&J, and diabetes drugs from Merck and AstraZeneca. It also includes a blood cancer drug from AbbVie, one of the companies represented by the Chamber of Commerce. 

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