Lowering prescription drug prices
I came to Presque Isle from Thomaston last week so I could join other AARP members in attending an important meeting with Sen. Angus King. We had an open and frank discussion about how the high cost of prescription drugs impacts us, our families and neighbors. I thank King for taking the time to listen and commit to investigating several issues we raised.
King observed that politicians are responsible to the public and we can serve as a counterforce to the tactics of the pharmaceutical industry. He listened for over an hour and gave us action ideas. He shared with us that the United States is one of only two countries (the other being New Zealand) in the world that allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising. He recognized the strength of AARP’s work and urged us to hold politicians accountable.
It is time to pass bipartisan legislation to lower prescription drug prices across the country, and it needs to happen this year. We know that the pharmaceutical industry will oppose such legislation as hard as they can, but we must fight harder. Americans pay more for their prescription drugs than anyone else in the world and this must come to an end — now. Let’s keep the momentum going and work together to succeed.
Pamela Corcoran
Thomaston
Question about The Weekly
What has happened to The Weekly? I used to look forward to getting and reading the feature articles, especially the Duck of Justice. Over time, it has shrunk and I guess the writer of the “Duck” has had a crisis of inspiration, perhaps, as it has gone from once a week, then to once every few weeks, to now, hardly ever. Last week, The Weekly hit the bottom with a thud. Four pages, one feature article, the Weekly Question and 28 (count them) ads. Oh, I didn’t count the death notices.
All of which leads the reader to ask, what purpose does The Weekly now serve, beside a source of ad revenue? It is sad today to see any printed newspaper die; worse, to die a slow death.
Bill Shook
Bangor
How much dodging can we stand?
I can’t help but feel that when a person or company continually dodges around an issue or constantly throws roadblocks in front of resolving the issue, that there might just be something to the issue to begin with.
As it stands, the U.S. House is never going to resolve President Donald Trump’s alleged actions when they do little to control his actions toward obtaining answers to questions that, I guess, many of us already feel we know the answers to. Congress is supposed to have oversight over the legislative branch, but needs to have some guts when it comes to how they handle refusals to comply. They ask for a person to appear and the White House doesn’t let him or her. So Congress reverts to that person being subpoenaed. The subpoena is ignored, so what is the next step?
Congress needs to step up to the plate and charge the person with “ contempt of Congress.” All this needs to happen within days, not weeks of the subpoena being ignored. This is what happens in the real world. Ignore a lawful subpoena, and a contempt charge will be issued — and you could be looking at jail time.
This president is making a laughing stock out of our democracy. And to make matters far worse, Congress is sitting idly by. How much dodging of the issues must the voter be subjected to before he or she realizes that there just might be something to the long list of charges this president is accused of?
Richard Barclay
Holden