Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I worked as a mental health professional for years. I have worked with adults and children from all different walks of life – from children with anxiety to adult felons in prison. Many of my former clients suffer from trauma and mental health issues that may require the aid of medication. Access to these medicines is crucial to the healing and stability of my clients’. I have seen, firsthand, how medications have changed patients’ lives for the better.
Which is why I am concerned about the repercussions of lawmakers’ current attempts to make changes to Medicare. This Medicare “negotiation,” overreach, would severely limit access to medication for many Americans including my clients. A recent example is the astronomical rise of the price of insulin effectively putting the life saving drug out of reach of many Americans. One can extrapolate the regrettable and even deadly consequences. Thus, allowing the government to control medicine availability through the mechanism of price controls is a slippery slope that will only lead to severe rationing, suffering and a class system of medical services. This has been demonstrated throughout the ages in the many communist and dictatorial systems around the world.
To expand on this idea, one sees that the availability of new cures in other countries is much lower than it is in the United States. This is due to the ill thought out practices of government medical “negotiations.” In countries like Canada and Germany, patients wait longer to receive treatments. For the vulnerable who are struggling with mental health issues, this extra wait time could be the difference between life and death.
Therefore, Instead of expanding government’s role in our health care system, lawmakers should look at ways to lower out-of-pocket costs and ensure that access to treatment is not inhibited. Possible solutions are capping insurance costs and lowering cost-sharing burdens. Patients and doctors need real relief right now, not obstacles.

Sincerely,
Kayla Walsworth
Marthaville, LA