Letters to the Editor for July 12

Biopharmaceutical price setting hurts patients 

As a nurse in the NICU, I know that health care can be hard to navigate. Every day, I see parents frustrated over the costs of their children’s treatments during an already stressful time, so I can understand Congress’ push to make medications less expensive. But the price-setting measures that lawmakers have proposed fail to address the affordability problem at its core. 

From my experience, insurance companies are the ones that make patient care so expensive, as they consistently fail to protect our most vulnerable. All the babies I see require medical attention, and yet, their parents are often forced to pay entirely out of pocket, because the necessary coverage is not available. 

This has to change. Instead of regulating the biopharmaceutical industry, lawmakers need to start holding insurers accountable. It’s obvious that these corporations only care about profits, and that is unacceptable. 

All I ever want is to provide the best treatments for my patients, but that requires the help of our biopharmaceutical industry. And unfortunately, price-setting restrictions would only restrict medical innovation, making our care options even more limited. 

Doctors and nurses like me need all the help we can get to care for our patients. I only hope policymakers can help us save lives by standing against price setting. 

Kimberly Statler RN 

Upper Providence 

A passage to read before you vote 

I am reading Joseph Ellis’ book “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation,” about eight important figures involved in creating what this nation was intended to be and should be today. One passage struck me and should be read by all Americans as they go to vote.  

Ellis wrote: “Honor mattered because character mattered. And character mattered because the fate of the American experiment with republican government required virtuous leaders to survive. Eventually, the United States might develop into a nation of laws and establish institutions capable of surviving corrupt or incompetent public officials. …It still required honorable and virtuous leaders to endure.”   

Michael Frank  

Doylestown Borough