The Sentinel: Government Spending

Commentary |
The Speaker’s Slippery Balancing Act

Khalil Bendib / OtherWords.org

The House Leader isn't so much "leading" as "trying not to plummet."

Guest Commentary | Israel has no choice but to defend themselves

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

Prayers for the devastated people in the Middle East.

Prayers for the families who have had loved ones murdered before their very eyes.

Prayers for the families who have loved ones held as hostages. We pray for their safety and release.

Prayers that hate filled terrorists may be overcome. Why do we have such evil on this planet? Why is there so much hate tied to a religion? Why is religion used to carry out barbaric acts of murder and violence? Because evil is an unrelenting force. Evil can make anything bad. The goal of any religion should be connecting people to God and bringing about meaningful lives filled with love, peace and a higher purpose.

The goal of cancer is to destroy and kill. Evil is a cancer that is progressive and terminal unless it is totally eliminated. Any cancer in your body is not good for you. No one can live peacefully with cancer. Cancer finds a way to grow, disable and kill. We cannot coexist with cancer nor can we coexist with mentalities who live to brutally kill others. The goal of hate filled groups such as Hamas is to eliminate Jewish people and then anyone connected to the United States and the Western world.

You can’t coexist with rattlesnakes and copperheads. They are poisonous.

Israel has no choice but to defend themselves and put an end to Hamas. Do we have to be in the middle of this mess? We have been since World War II. Israel has been the number one benefactor of American foreign aid. We are the Santa Claus of the world when it comes to giving away your money. America’s foreign aid contribution reached $66 billion in 2022. This was the first time we had given this much to other nations since 1949. While that amount was staggering, our foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel will make that amount look like a paltry sum.

We have already given Ukraine over $75 billion in their fight against Russia. Now, President Biden is proposing to give Ukraine and Israel $105 billion in aid. Also, America’s border security has been mentioned in this proposal. Probably the only reason our border security is tied to this proposal is because voting Americans are desperate for border security. The manufacturers of war weapons and their investors, such as many politicians, will have a nice Christmas.

Since World War II America has given Israel $260 billion. Jordan, Egypt and some other countries receive a lot of our money.

Countries That Received the Most Foreign Aid from the U.S. in 2021: (Stats from US News and World Report)

1 Israel ($3.3B)
2 Jordan ($1.6B)
3 Afghanistan ($1.4B)
4 Ethiopia ($1.39B)
5 Egypt ($1.29B)
6 Yemen ($1.04B)
7 South Sudan ($954M)
8 Congo (Kinshasa) ($825M)
9 Somalia ($790M)
10 Syria ($782M)

Try to keep working if you can. Somebody has to pay for all of this.

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He is the author of 13 books including Uncommom Sense, the Spiritual Chocolate series, Grandpa's Store, Minister's Guidebook insights from a fellow minister. His column is published weekly in over 600 publications in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.

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Sticker shock: Government to halt footing bill for Covid treatment

by Hannah Recht
Kaiser Health News

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people infected with covid-19 from being hospitalized or dying, and it may even reduce the risk of developing long covid. But the government plans to stop footing the bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured and seniors — may have to pay the full price.

And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.

“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, she said.

In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans have died from covid, more than from strokes or diabetes.

In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by covid, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans have died from covid, more than from strokes or diabetes.

But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop supplying covid treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective covid treatment pill, and AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised, are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.

The U.S. government has so far purchased 20 million courses of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the company’s covid vaccine next year — those shots will quadruple in price, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.

Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make Paxlovid and its covid vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”

Nearly 9 in 10 people dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that covers nearly 50 million seniors — from covering the covid treatment pills. The medications are meant for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.

Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer applied for full approval in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp of approval.

Black and Hispanic patients with covid were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white patients.

Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote federal health experts.

“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.

In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an additional $2.5 billion for covid therapeutics and vaccines to make sure people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate voted that same day to end the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.

Many Americans have already faced hurdles just getting a prescription for covid treatment. Although the federal government doesn’t track who’s gotten the drug, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic patients with covid were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.) And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.

People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those in the rest of the country, according to a KHN analysis of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people in the region were getting sick from covid at much higher rates — instead, many of those states offered better access to health care to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.

About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for treatment after testing positive for covid. In Massachusetts, more than 20,000 residents have used the state’s video and phone hotline, which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate among states this fall.

States with higher covid death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat options, residents have struggled to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.

“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” Rosenthal said.

People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or brand-name drugs.

Most private insurance companies will end up covering covid therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their plans or decide not to pay for them.

And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication. “We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,” Corlette said.

One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover the treatments in full until at least early 2024.

HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s analysis of the data from HHS.

Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the covid prevention therapy is less effective against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, New Mexico, has recommended against using it.

HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.

The government created a potential workaround when they moved bebtelovimab, another covid treatment, to the private market this summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to treat uninsured patients in a convoluted dose-replacement process. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA halted its use on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.

Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.

“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health care costs.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Governor's budget proposal includes tax savings for Illinoisans

This week, Governor J.B. Pritzker will propose that state lawmakers pass legislation that would put a few extra greenbacks in the pockets of Illinoisans.

The upcoming proposal outlines three tax breaks for residents. It includes suspending the 1% sales tax on groceries for one year. State motor fuel taxes were set to increase this year. That rate hike would be frozen at 39 cents per gallon. The biggest savings in the governor's play would come by way of a property tax rebate of up to $300 for homeowners.

Homeowners will still be able to deduct the normal 5% rate of their property tax bills up to $300 from their income taxes, but the new plan would double the value of that deduction with a direct one-time payment. This rebate will apply to workers making $250,000 annually or less or to couples making $500,000 or less.

Taxpayers will get that in the form of either a check or an electronic deposit after filing a state income tax return. A return must be filed even if the individual does not owe anything in taxes.

Collectively, Illinois consumers would save about 1 billion in taxes if legislators advance the proposal. With inflation at 7% and mid-term elections on the horizon, the abatement would be paid by the nearly 1 billion currently in surplus thanks to marijuana tax revenues and federal Covid relief monies the state has received.

The reduction in tax levies would last one year. However, there is scuttlebutt that they could remain in place a bit longer.

Pritzker is not the only governor looking to cut taxes for their residents. Indiana and New York are also attempting to advance proposals aimed at lowering taxes for their residents.

Guest Commentary: It’s pathetic Congress and President have trouble agreeing

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

America needs attention to our infrastructure. It’s pathetic that our Congress and President are having so much trouble putting something together they can agree on.

We managed to spend the equivalent of a trillion dollars in today’s currency on the Vietnam war. What did we get for a trillion dollars? Over fifty-eight thousand dead American soldiers. Plus, over 1500 missing in action and thousands of wounded. Many who have never recovered.

We lost 4497 American soldiers in Iraq. We spent two trillion dollars in Iraq. We had over 32,000 other casualties. What does America have to show for the war in Iraq?

We spent 20 years in Afghanistan. Over 2400 American soldiers were killed and over 20,000 were wounded. We spent at least 2.3 trillion dollars. What does America have to show for our war in that country?

Did these wars make us safer? Did they make our country greater and stronger? Is America better and freer because of these wars? America suffered great loss from these wars. Thousands of American families are still grieving.

The stimulus proposal, approximately $1.75 trillion is about investing in America. We are long overdue for a major investment in America. We don’t all agree on the infrastructure bill’s spending list. However, can’t these “great” politicians come up with an “essential” needs list that is starkly visible to any naked eye?”

Maybe we could get busy in our nation and stay out of other countries’ business for a while.

Maybe we could take a break from fighting among ourselves.

A working nation will be a much happier nation. We hear all this bull talk about we’ll never get out of debt from this infrastructure bill and we won’t. However, we’ve spent too much time trying to solve the world’s issues while ignoring our own problems. We need to work on our homeland. The roof is leaking, the walls are crumbling, the electrical work needs to be repaired. The water we are drinking is dirty. The driveway is crumbling and potholes abound. The plant down in town relocated and the local coal mine closed. Things are tough.

The house needs a lot of repair but it’s hard to repair a house and buy expensive groceries on the meager wages that are available to most Americans. Families can’t live on $15 an hour, or go to the doctor. Over forty million Americans still live in poverty. Millions more live right above the poverty line and struggle.

According to Pew Research, "A household with an income between two-thirds of and double the median household income is considered middle class. The national median income in 2021 is $79,900, which would mean an individual would fall squarely in the middle class with an income between $53,266 and $159,800." Is this you? The average household income for 2021 has been $79,900 according to huduser.gov.

A financially strapped American living in an aging house that is desperate for repairs is symbolic of much of America.

Yes, we have seen a stock market boom. Americans selling houses are doing well financially. Yes, a lot of people in America are in the medium income level which is not bad.

However, too many Americans are still financially insecure. They don’t make enough money. They can’t afford adequate housing. They still put off going to the doctor because of costs. They aren’t saving any money.

More senior Americans are working than ever before because they can no longer live on their meager pensions and Social Security is being eaten away by rapid inflation.

We need an investment at home, our home, America. Congress, please make a reasonable list. Our needs are so visible. We need clean water, Internet, available affordable healthcare including prescriptions, affordable clean energy, chips for our cars and phones, roads and bridges and real paying jobs for Americans who are willing to work. Why is this so hard? In comparison to over 5 trillion dollars and thousands of American lives spent around this world, spending a few dollars at home should be a cakewalk for this Congress and President.

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Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.

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This article is the sole opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Sentinel. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.

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