This is a email that I received from Senator Bill Nelson after writing his office about HR-6 BEFORE THE SENATE VOTED
Dear Mr. Ariens:
Thank you for writing to me regarding pain management and access to prescription pain medication. I have heard from many Floridians about their difficulties obtaining prescribed pain medication, and I appreciate your bringing this issue to my attention.
I support efforts by the State to rein in prescription drug abuse and prevent drug overdose, but I also want to make sure people who need their prescribed medications for chronic pain management have access to the treatment they need.
On March 8, I became a cosponsor of S. 2260, the Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative Act, to allocate $5 billion for a new non-addictive pain management initiative at the National Institutes of Health. The initiative would expand research on our understanding of pain and non-addictive treatments for chronic pain, including new non-addictive drugs, non-pharmacological treatments, and effective models of health care delivery for pain management. The STOP Pain Initiative Act would also implement a strategy to create national registries and datasets for chronic pain conditions and to use precision medicine to prevent and treat pain.
I am committed to finding a balance between the need for responsible drug oversight and the rights of patients and healthcare providers. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (P.L. 114-198), which I cosponsored and was signed into law on July 22, 2016, authorizes funding for drug abuse education and prevention programs and creates best practices for prescribing pain medication. This law and other efforts can reduce the prevalence of opioid addiction, while protecting access to medication for legitimate chronic pain patients.
I will keep your views in mind should the Senate consider additional legislation on this issue. If you have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me again.
Sincerely,
Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson believe that chronic pain pts should WAIT until some entity discovers a NON-ADDICTIVE MED for pain.. IF ONE EXISTS… and it will only take 10-15-20 yrs for such a drug – if discovered – would take to get it thru clinical trials and available to be prescribed for chronic pain pts…
ISN’T THAT ENCOURAGING ?
Nelson and 98 other Senators voted IN FAVOR OF THIS BILL… only a Republican Senator from UTAH for NO.
Nelson and 32 other Senators are up for RE-ELECTION in NOV.. and it is reported that they are anticipating 50 million dollars on his re-election campaign. Remember that Nelson was one of most/all of the Democratic Senators that VOTED NO on the Medicare Part D program that is now providing medication to Medicare pts .. which there was no coverage for… for the first 40 yrs of Medicare
Nelson was also one of the Democratic Senators that voted against the recent TAX CUT for individuals.. which was suppose to put abt $1000 in middle American’s pocket and Rep Pelosi(D) referred to $1000 as “CRUMBS” and if the Democrats take back control of Congress have said that they are going to raise your taxes and take that $1000 back.. and who knows if they will stop at just that $1000.
Filed under: General Problems
Wow reading all the above commentary is like drinking from a firehose! I want to focus Mr. Arien’s attention on four points of superseding importance…
1. Rick Scott is the governor and regardless what background noise Pam Bondi provides he is accountable to voters for the dumpster fire called HB21. And a plethora of his other self serving executive decisions made at the expense of many less fortunate Floridians. See tide, red and access law, beaches for starters. As evidence of Bondi’s lack of influence with Scott see Putnam, Adam plus Bondi, Pam endorses but not by Rick Scott.
2. Hope makes a factual statement the Trump administration is gutting and effectively repealing the A.C.A. with Pam Bondi as a cosignatory joining other GOP state AG’s attempting to do in court what the voters fail to support.
3. Just having a health insurance industry places a 6 to 8% “tax” on EVERY single transaction in healthcare. A criminal enterprise masquerading as an “industry”. Replete with our friends called PBM’s, gangster style shakedowns of providers, denials of life-sustaining patient care, and a system placing us 11th out of 11 most industrialized countries’ infant mortality and life expectancy for starters. hardly a model or a bargain. Why NOT have a single payer? Cannot be worse and with a single payer treated more like a public utility I say it would get somewhat better.?
4. As far as Nelson’s vote against MMA/MPD he wanted to “pay” for the $1B entitlement with giving HHS/CMS the ability to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers. Denny Hastert and Bill Frist along with Big Pharma’s dollars were not going to allow that! Which brings me to my last point about the current administration giving its blessing to CVS/Caremark aquiring Aetna. Which is why even have a Federal Trade Commission? No monopolies of vertical integration to see here folks!! Trump should disband and abolish the FTC and spend the money bailing out/bribing farmers in the Midwest again. Farmers which are getting hammered in the trade war now like never before!
In all fairness I MUST weigh in as a FloriDuh RPh very familiar with Senator Nelson and his GOP opponent, our current governor, Rick Scott…Governor Scott helped lobby for, craft, and sign into existence our current opioid law HB21. HB21 has been utterly devastating to current chronic pain patients, their doctors, and us pharmacists on the front line every day providing patient care!! It is a mistake to vote for Rick Scott for U.S. Senator under ANY pretense he would be IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM supportive of chronic pain patients!!!
I remember Pam Bondi’s re-election ads.. bragging that she got all the “oxy-docs” out of FL… while I am be wrong.. it would appear that whatever Scott lobbied for… Bondi was the primacy one bending his ear about this. Likewise, the FL Board of Pharmacy had some blame to go along because they were the ones passing out new pharmacy licenses like candy is passed out at Halloween.. I was at a community meeting of Nelson back after Congress had voted the Medicare part D into law and at the public meeting I thanked him & Congress for passing that law .. granting some 30-40 million Medicare folks to have prescription coverage under medicare.. and he defended is NO VOTE… At the time having a wife who had been on Medicare disability since 1998 and having to pay – out of pocket – $750 -$1000/month for her medication.. Medicare part D was greatly appreciated. Apparently he didn’t share the “pain” of Medicare folks who were having to pay out of pocket for all their medications – or at least the medications they could afford.
This letter and others received from politicians are letters already typed up. Politicians do not sign these letters. They are signed to make it look like politicians sign them. If the politician does not represent your area. Contacting them is more a waste of time than if they do.
It is important to look at the whole picture. Republicans are doing everything they can to overturn the ACA. If this happens, private insurance companies will not have to cover pre-existing conditions.. Even if they say they cover them. They could decide to deny claims. Lookup the Trump Administrations lawsuit in Texas to throw out the ACA. Republicans are also determined to cut Medicaid as much as they possibly can. This means states have to cut or not cover some services. It can also mean higher state taxes. And remember the tax refunds are temporary.
Republicans and Democrats are more together on fighting the opioid epidemic, as,they call it. Than they are on other issues. The one place they seem to differ is in not appropriating federal money. Or more than a one time or short term funding. This means higher medical bills and taxes in states to make up the difference.
It is never wise to vote with your emotions. You should vote with your head.
According to this https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/03/07/new-irs-announces-2018-tax-rates-standard-deductions-exemption-amounts-and-more/#31be9ae33133 the reduced taxes is not a REFUND .. it is a increase in the standard deduction…which the vast majority of tax payer use and do not itemize. Preexisting coverage is a mirage.. Express Scripts (PMB) one of the largest are removing 324 meds from their formulary for next year. We have some insurance companies that are starting to deny coverage of all opiates or limiting mme/day or some other limitations and Pharmacists are refusing to fill opiates Rxs for these people for CASH because the DEA has stated that a person paying CASH for a controlled substance ..when they have insurance – is a RED FLAG… All of a sudden what is existing conditions and have been covered are being non-coverage services. These RED FLAGS from the DEA has been known by all in the healthcare community for years.. so I find it hard to believe that the PBM is not aware of what they are doing to these chronic pain pts… And CVS/Carmark – one of the top three PBM’s – just announced that … CVS limiting meds on formulary to those “ESTIMATED” to be cost-effective https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=27179
Insurance companies not covering a,medication. Is not the same as not covering pre-existing conditions. This is what happens when emotions rule.
Pre-existing conditions not being covered. Means you can have insurance. But they can deny to cover doctors visits, diagnostic tests, hospitalizations, etc stemming from a pre-existing condition. Even after you have the insurance.
If you have insurance and a medication, test, visits have been covered and all of a sudden… they are not.. that is pretty much the definition of non-coverage of pre-existing conditions. This scenario would cause the pt not getting a health care service that was previously covered and they can’t find/get new insurance because of a pre-existing disease… not getting care is not getting care – regardless of the reason… My wife has had the same Part D for 12 years and now many of her meds are no longer covered that they were in the beginning, have quantity limits, instead of having a generic copay and a brand name copay there are now FIVE TIERS and generics are in all five tiers… and with few in tier one and a very large number in tier 4 = 40% copay. They charge me a premium, they charge Uncle a premium and the extract a rebate/kickback/discount from the manufacturer and on abt 80% of our prescriptions – they pay the pharmacy NOTHING – the copay is the total cost. So we have Rx insurance but have very little benefits
Let me put it another way. You are encouraging everyone to vote a certain way. Voters must look at the whole picture. They need to research candidates votes and bills on healthcare and other topics. Not just if the politician agrees or does not agree with the way they think opiate prescriptions should be managed.
Those that buy their insurance will be affected if the ACA is altered more or struck down. Everyone will be affected due to higher medical bills and higher taxes. These people will still need care. Someone will have to pay for it. That means,everyone.
You are complaining because Part D has,restrictions on opiates. What if your wife was not covered for any pre-existing health condition ? What if she did nit gave Medicare ? What if you and she had to pay out of pocket for the entire cost of doctors visits, diagnostic tests, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, etc ? Just because you and your wife will not be affected by changes to pre-existing conditions. Does not mean you should not care about those that will be.
All I am saying is look at the whole picture. Not just your corner of the world. Some people will vote a certain way because you tell them to. I know that makes no sense. But it is true. What if the politician you tell people to vote for or against casts the deciding vote that denied them insurance for pre-existing? You have a certain responsibility to others due to your visibility.
I hope that every incumbent gets voted out of office.. that is 87% of Congress. .because 98% expect to get re-elected because they know that no matter what they have done or not done.. they will get re-elected. Because people tend to believe that their member of Congress is a “good guy/gal” it is all the rest that are crooks. Unless the seniority system that Congress functions on.. very little will change. We saw what Harry Reid (NV D) did as head of the Senate… we didn’t have a passed Federal budget for 7 yrs.. there was a couple of hundred bills passed by the house that he would not bring to the floor for a vote. ONE – SELF-CENTERED, NARCISSISTIC MAN. and McConnell is not much better because seems to not like how Trump is not wanting to play by “their rules”. IMO.. the ACA was designed to fail so that they would be forced to enact some national health insurance or Medicare for all like YESTERDAY… It is estimated that a national health insurance would cost between 3-4 tillion/yr… our national budget is already abt 4 trillion.. and according to this article https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2016/03/01/the-full-list-of-every-american-billionaire-2016/#2b3c920137ac if we confiscated all the assets of all the billionaires in the USA .. it would pay for SIX MONTHS of national health insurance.. maybe if we confiscated all the assets of all the millionaires..maybe we could pay for the next six months… Our healthcare system is so expensive because we have too many middlemen with a for profit motive and spends gobs of money trying to figure out how to limit the care that is provided. but our insurance industry has one of the five largest lobbying war chests… so changing the composition of our healthcare system is going to be a monumental task. and to do that – IMO – we need members of Congress where 98% expect to get elected regardless of what they have done or not done… and the $$$ in their re-election campaign fund will create so much doubt about their opponent that they will get re-elected.. Likewise, cleaning house will cause the lobbyists to loose all the “good will” that they have built up over years – decades with the members of Congress… after all it is claimed that the lobbyists spend 9+ million/day trying in influence the 535 members of Congress