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Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle March 13, 2019 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion THE SKANNER EDITORIAL: Consumers Need Transparency in Medication Pricing Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor By Bernie Foster, Publisher Jerry Foster Advertising Manager F Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com rom antibiotics and insu- lin to statins and steroids, medications are essential for many Americans. But prescription drug prices have been rising so fast that people who depend on them to stay alive and healthy can’t afford them. One company, Turing Phar- maceuticals, raised the price of its specialist anti-infection drug Daraprim by 5,000 per- cent. The causes of this health crisis are complicated: from lack of real competition in the drug market to a secretive pricing system that means the same drug can be sold at 50 different prices. Then there is the rebate system that allows middlemen to skim profits so the people paying for the drugs don’t get the benefits. Sen. Ron Wyden didn’t hold back when he spoke to phar- maceutical company bosses in Congress last week. He laid into them saying their profits are “outsized” and their “way of business is unacceptable.” We agree. Of course drug companies should be able to take a profit. But they shouldn’t be exploiting the most vulnerable people in America just because they can. “ All should have their cost of drug prices trans- parent, up and down, so everyone knows the costs Sen. Wyden is working at the federal level to increase pricing transparency and to reduce costs for Medicare re- cipients. If his bills pass they will help but more will be needed. There is a group of com- panies known as pharmacy benefit managers. They are healthcare benefit managers, drug stores, and others. All should have their cost of drug Of course drug companies should be able to take a profit. But they shouldn’t be exploiting the most vulnerable people in America just because they can prices transparent, up and down, so everyone knows the costs. Oregon lawmakers are look- ing at a long list of bills that aim to help solve this health crisis. They should be paying close attention to drug pric- ing. There are more than a doz- en ideas under consideration. One idea would allow the state Board of Pharmacy to import drugs from Canada. Another would direct phar- macists to substitute generics for branded drugs. A third would allow pharmacists to dispense emergency insulin. And yet another bill would allow patients who pay out of pocket to apply the cost to their deductibles. And those are just four of the proposals. These ideas are worth think- ing through. So we urge leg- islators to work closely with diverse groups, and to aim for a transparent pricing system and a fair deal for consumers. What do you think? www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2018 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n to y • ac it Updated daily online. Waters Leads Charge to Return Consumer Protection to CFPB A lthough Director Kraninger announced a plan to suspend the payday rule, changes in how the Bureau operated with regard to these lend- ers began under Mulvaney. While at CFPB, he urged Con- gress to repeal the rule and joined a lawsuit brought by a payday lender that sought to indefinitely suspend the rule. On March 7, the House Fi- nancial Services Committee, chaired by Congresswoman Maxine Waters marked the first time that the new Direc- tor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ap- peared for a hearing in this capacity. Entitled, Putting Consumers First? A Semi-An- nual Review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” the session is the first of two mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Twice a year, CFPB’s Di- rector must report to each chamber of Congress. But before the hearing, oth- er actions signaled that Direc- tor Kathy Kraninger would likely be forced to defend both the Bureau’s actions and inactions that occurred at the hands of Trump polit- ical appointees. Under Mick Mulvaney, CFPB’s former Acting Director, a series of actions turned the agency’s focus away from consumers, regulation and enforcement to make its policies and struc- ture more favorable to dereg- ulation and business. Charlene Crowell NNPA Columnist One day before the hearing, Congresswoman Waters and other majority members of the Financial Services Com- mittee held a news conference to announce the reintroduc- tion of the Consumers First “ whether or not she is on the road to restoring much of the damage that was done by Mr. Mulvaney.” Ohio’s Rep. Joyce Beatty, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, took direct aim at the Bu- reau’s changed perspective on payday lending adding, “Under Trump’s CFPB direc- tor Mulvaney, the CFPB has reduced transparency and accountability, weakened en- forcement…and became more interested in helping payday lenders who allegedly misled The bill reverses the harmful structural changes Mulvaney and his deputies made to damage the agency one-by-one Act. Initially filed in 2018 by Waters, the 2019 version has the same intent: to block and reverse the Trump Adminis- tration’s anti-consumer agen- da. This year, Waters has the support of co-sponsoring law- makers representing 19 states as diverse as California, Flor- ida, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia. Another boost – the bill is also supported by 51 consumer, civil rights, and labor advocates. “The bill reverses the harm- ful structural changes Mul- vaney and his deputies made to damage the agency one-by- one,” said Chairwoman Wa- ters at the news conference. “We will be asking all of the questions that our members deem necessary to find out consumers and charged exor- bitantly high interest rates, rather than protecting the American consumers they were sworn to serve.” Readers may recall that during Black History Month, Director Kraninger an- nounced the Bureau’s in- tent to suspend the August 2019 effective date of the long-awaited payday rule. After more than five years of public forums, rulemaking, research and thousands of public comments, Director Kraninger still intends to be- gin the rulemaking process anew. In response, consumer, clergy, and civil rights advo- cates received updated infor- mation from the Center for Responsible Lending that pin- points state by state, how cur- rent triple-digit interest rates (APRs) continue to harm con- sumers across the country. Regardless of a state’s popula- tion size or average incomes, the cost of borrowing payday loans remains a debt trap. Further, in states where these loans remain legal, lenders continue to squeeze billions of dollars of fees from bor- rowers whose annual average earnings are $22,500. Prepared by Charla Rios, a researcher with the Center for Responsible Lending, the updated payday map reveals that in 2019, 31 states charged 200 percent APRs or higher on payday loans. Of these, 18 states have APRs of 400 percent or more, three more — Idaho, Nevada, and Texas charge in excess of 600 per- cent. The Lone Star State can rightfully claim one other dis- tinction: its 661 percent APR is the nation’s highest. That claim becomes even more curious when that figure is compared to the actions of more than 40 cities that have adopted some kind of regula- tion on these predatory loans. In 2011, the City of Dallas led the municipal curbs with an ensuing unsuccessful legal challenge. Fortunately, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the city’s restriction. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve