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Congress must put
restraints on PBMs
Re: “Middlemen squeezing independent pharmacies” (Page A1, Sept. 1).
Congress must address the negative impact that pharmacy benefit managers are having on patients’ access to prescription drugs.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission began investigating PBMs and their impact on patient access in 2022 and just released an interim report detailing its findings. Unsurprisingly, that report revealed a range of profit-driven, anti-competitive practices that PBMs use to wield enormous power over patients and smaller, independent, community-based pharmacies.
That includes restricting patients from accessing lower-cost medications and steering patients away from local pharmacies and toward larger PBM-affiliated chain pharmacies. That exposes patients to being overcharged for prescriptions and is forcing smaller drugstores out of business for good, irreparably harming our communities, particularly in rural parts of the state.
The FTC’s actions to hold PBMs accountable highlight the dire need for Congress to act swiftly and pass PBM reform immediately. I hope Californians can count on our congressional delegation to ensure that happens.
Austin Wang
Owner, McKee Pharmacy
San Jose
People are best served
by helping themselves
Re: “Why we shouldn’t demean Trump’s supporters” (Page A7, Sept. 4).
Nicholas Kristof describes a woman who turned to addiction and became homeless with extended family members who ended up similarly devastated from the exodus of good-paying jobs to the outside.
Instead of sitting on the couch becoming brain dead from watching “The Simpsons” and getting addicted to drugs, they should have gone back to school to learn a trade or a profession where there were job openings. We should be there to help these people who are angry and feeling hopeless with their poor livelihoods because factories closed down; I’m willing to pay more taxes for our government to help them. But they also need to help themselves by not blaming everybody else around them for their misery.
Go to school for a trade or a profession, move to where the jobs are and ask the government for assistance.
Guy Vigier
San Jose
Harris’ tax plans are
sensible and fair
Re: “Harris’ economic plans show that she’s unfit” (Page A6, Sept. 5).
Brian Kennedy argues that Kamala Harris’ tax plans make her unfit to govern — perhaps, but only for the wealthiest.
Corporations got their rate cut to 21% in 2017, and to no one’s surprise, the gains went to the top 10% of earners rather than reinvestment in labor and productivity. Then there is the scam he wants to preserve that is the step-up tax basis — wealthy individuals never pay taxes on their lifetime gains, and their heirs get to reset the gains to market value at the time of death.
Explain to me why regular taxpayers should subsidize generational wealth for the very rich. For too long corporations and wealthy individuals have gamed the system. Harris’ tax plans are sensible and fair.
J Higgins
Sunnyvale
Law of the jungle
is bad public policy
Re: “Freedom too steep a cost for equity” (Page A6, Sept. 5).
In response to Pete Campbell, should people be free to take advantage of the less fortunate while the government stands by and does nothing?
Citizens United makes billionaires free to buy legislation. Is this a good thing? If the government does not take from one and give to another, we have might makes right and nothing for the common good.
The ultimate freedom is anarchy and the jungle, so actually less freedom can bring joy to someone other than the top predator.
William Gascoyne
San Jose
Time for us to act on
gun control is now
Re: “Student, 14, fatally shoots 4 at school prior to surrender” (Page A4, Sept. 5).
The tragic shooting that occurred at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., where a 14-year-old student decided to take the lives of four innocent individuals, gives us a reminder of the urgent need to address gun violence in the United States. This heartbreaking event underscores the vulnerability of our schools and the need for gun control measures.
As a community, we must advocate and call for stricter background checks, responsible gun ownership and better mental health support. The main priority is to provide safety for our children, and it is crucial we take steps to prevent any more tragedies.
We cannot afford to wait for another to strike to prod us into action. We need our lawmakers to prioritize the safety of our children and to implement policies to protect our community from gun violence.
Kyle Dang
San Jose
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Why aren’t Israel critics
condemning Hamas?
The Mercury News has published several Letters to the Editor vilifying Israel and her response to Iranian-backed terrorism. So, where are these voices now that Hamas has shown its true colors for the umpteenth time by murdering helpless kidnap victims on the off-chance that they might be rescued?
Explain to me again how any atrocity is acceptable if it is ostensibly committed in support of a good cause. Once you have finished explaining it to me, try explaining it to the families of the murdered hostages.
Richard Kroll
San Jose
