LETTERS: Reforms needed to drive down cost of medicine
Unaffordable medicine
It absolutely shocks me that prescription drug prices in this county are among the highest in the world ("Analysis: U.S. prices 3X those found in Britain," Oct. 18 Review-Journal). I also find it hard to believe that the companies who manufacture life-saving medications can't find ways to cut costs to benefit their consumers.
Despite all the talk about health care, it seems nothing has been done to address the underlying drivers of rising costs — such as pharmaceutical prices. As a respiratory therapist, I see firsthand how rising drug prices negatively impact seniors and low-income families in Las Vegas. In the past two years alone, the costs for many life-saving medications have more than doubled. Every day, I listen to complaints from hard-working Nevadans who worry about how they are going to pay for things such as asthma medications, antibiotics and other drugs.
We need common-sense reforms in this area. Currently, the market for prescription drugs is uncompetitive and only serves to benefit pharmaceutical company executives on their way to the bank. Generic drugs are often forced out of the market, which makes it even more difficult for people to access affordable medicine. People who require life-saving medications should not be forced to go broke in order to receive the care they need. Our elected officials need to understand how this problem is negatively impacting real folks in Nevada.
Tristan Townsend Jr.
Las Vegas
Iran can't trust us
There has been much doom and gloom expressed regarding the recent nuclear deal with Iran, including in Rodney T. Elkins' letter ("Nuclear deal a joke," Sept. 27 Review-Journal), in which he intimated that Iran can't be trusted.
Quite frankly, Iran has no reason to trust America. Nations that have been subverted in the past rarely forget the injustice done them, and I'm sure Iran remembers the 1953 CIA-orchestrated, oil-motivated overthrow of its democratically elected prime minister by the Eisenhower administration. Iran remembers how we installed a puppet ruler, the shah, who would go on to become a cruel and hated dictator, robbing the country of millions.
The U.S. bears some responsibility for the government Iran now has. During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran would see how we were asking the rest of the world to maintain the arms embargo against it, while the Reagan administration was busy selling Iran hundreds of anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles in a futile bid to release American hostages — a violation of our own stated policies.
Iran would later learn that the Reagan administration was charging more than triple the cost of the munitions and funneling the excess money to South America to overthrow another democratically elected leader in Nicaragua. Iran would also learn that America was sending United Nations-banned chemical agents and toxins to Iraq to be used against Iran's military.
More recently, Iran watched the George W. Bush administration attack another Middle East nation, Iraq, for no valid reason, yet that resulted in the removal of Iran's mortal enemy, leaving it as the dominant power in the region. Iranians saw how we treated prisoners at Abu Ghraib and learned that we also tortured prisoners in our custody, in violation of United Nations guidelines on torture.
Now, Iran sees candidates for the U.S. presidency who are promising to tear up this international diplomatic agreement and use military force against Iran. It appears Iran has every reason to be suspicious, and America's military strength and economic power preclude our being punished for our global misdeeds. Recent history seems to demonstrate our integrity and trustworthiness as a nation hinges upon who occupies the office of president.
Rick Reynolds
Las Vegas
