Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 3A
State roundup
Georgia’s Carr joins 23 state AGs, threatening
legal action over Biden COVID mandates
By Tim Darnell
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia Attorney
General Chris Carr has joined
23 other state attorneys gener
al in a letter to President Joe
Biden warning of legal action
if the White House’s proposed
COVID-19 vaccine mandate is
implemented.
“On Sept. 9, you announced
that you would be ordering the
Department of Labor to issue an
emergency temporary standard,
under the Occupational Safety
and Health (OSH) Act. which
would mandate that private sector
employers either get a COVID-19
shot, submit to weekly testing, or
be fired,” the letter said.
“Your plan is disastrous and
counterproductive. From a policy
perspective, this edict is unlikely
to win hearts and minds - it will
simply drive further skepticism.”
Also signing the letter were the
attorneys general of Alabama,
Alaska. Arizona. Arkansas, Flor
ida, Indiana. Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, New Hamp
shire, North Dakota, Ohio, Okla
homa, South Carolina, South Da
kota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia,
and Wyoming.
Carr and the attorneys gener
al also said Biden’s proposals
threaten the nation’s job market.
“At least some Americans will
simply leave the job market in
stead of complying,” they said.
“This will further strain an al-
ready-too-tight labor market,
burdening companies and (there
fore) threatening the jobs of even
those who have received a vac
cine.
“Worse still, many of those
who decide to leave their jobs
rather than follow your directive
will be essential healthcare work
ers,” the letter continued.
The letter also said Biden’s
edict is “illegal. You proposed
to enforce your mandate through
the rarely used emergency tem
porary standard provision in the
OSH Act. An emergency tempo
rary standard does not have to go
through notice and comment and
can be made effective immedi
ately upon publication. Because
of this lack of process and over
sight, courts have viewed these
standards with suspicion.”
Gov. Brian Kemp has already
signaled he will use whatever le
gal forces are available to block
Biden’s proposal.
“Look, the public already
doesn’t trust the federal govern
ment because of the mixed mes
sages about the coronavirus.”
Kemp told Capitol Beat on Sept.
10. “This is pandemic politics
from a president who promised
to unite the country, but instead
is dividing us.”
“The vaccines have helped
protect millions of Americans,
and there are surely others who
could benefit from obtaining this
treatment” the letter concludes.
“But convincing those who are
hesitant to do so would require
you to allow room for discussion
and disagreement. Instead, you
have offered the American peo
ple flimsy legal arguments, con
tradictory statements, and threat
ening directives. It is almost as if
your goal is to sow division and
distrust, rather than promote uni
ty and the public’s health.
“We thus urge you to recon
sider your unlawful and harmful
plan and allow people to make
their own decisions. If your ad
ministration does not alter its
course, the undersigned state at
torneys general will seek every
available option to hold you ac
countable and uphold the rule of
law.”
Speaking from the White
House Sept. 9, Biden said the
estimated 80 million Americans
who have not been vaccinated
have made COVID-19 “a pan
demic of the unvaccinated.
“And it’s caused by the fact
that despite America having an
unprecedented and successful
vaccination program, despite the
fact that for almost five months
free vaccines have been available
in 80,000 different locations,
we still have nearly 80 million
Americans who have failed to get
the shot.”
Drug price transparency could
return as top legislative issue
Georgia unemployment rate
falls, but so does workforce
By Tim Darnell
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Drug pric
es and who controls them
could be back before the
General Assembly this
winter, as consumer advo
cates and pharmacy benefit
managers remain at odds
over issues such as drug
price transparency.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed
legislation last year tight
ening rules on third-party
companies that play a role
in negotiating pharmaceu
tical drug prices between
insurers and local pharma
cies in Georgia.
The bill Kemp signed
into law requires compa
nies called pharmacy bene
fits managers (PBMs) to set
drug prices within a nation
al average, a move aimed at
reining in excessively high
prescription prices.
PBMs act as go-be
tweens for prescribers and
insurance companies that
contract with health insur
ers to negotiate lower drug
prices for patients. But crit
ics have long accused them
of muddying the process,
prompting increases in
drug prices and delays in
filling prescriptions.
Now, pharmacies such
as CVS are worried Geor
gia lawmakers, when they
reconvene in January, may
take further action on drug
pricing.
“We are aware of efforts
by some legislators to fur
ther explore drug pricing
transparency,” said Leanne
Gassaway, vice president
of state government affairs
at CVS Health. “Given
the state’s enactment of
PBM-related legislation
nearly every year over the
past decade, we would
welcome the legislature
to closely examine drug
manufacturers’ role in drug
pricing, including a nota
ble lack of transparency in
setting and increasing list
prices.”
Ryan Hamilton, an as
sociate professor at Emory
Goizueta Business School,
said price transparency
typically causes drug pric
es to fall.
“The easier it is for cus
tomers to acquire price in
formation, the greater the
need for manufacturers to
compete,” he said. “But the
prescription pharmaceuti
cal industry in the U.S. is
so heavily regulated, those
general rules may not ap
ply.”
Hamilton said PBMs
serve as an interface be
tween drug manufacturers
and pharmacies.
“Any measures to cut out
middlemen from the equa
tion are naturally going to
cause protests,” he said.
“PBMs support and
practice actionable trans
parency that enables pa
tients, their physicians,
and health plan sponsors in
Georgia to make informed
decisions on how best to
manage prescription drug
costs and empowers Geor
gia’s policymakers with
the information they need
to make the right policy
decisions to lower drug
costs for all patients," said
the Pharmaceutical Care
Management Association,
an organization which rep
resents PBMs. “In Georgia,
PBMs will save health plan
sponsors and patients near
ly $30 billion on prescrip
tion drug costs.”
Laura Colbert, executive
director of Georgians for
a Healthy Future, agreed
the issues of drug prices
and transparency, coupled
with the role PBMs play in
the equation, will come up
again in January.
“Discussions over PBMs
have been going on for sev
eral years, and the legisla
ture seems pretty fired up
over continuing that effort,"
Colbert said, explaining
that PBMs were formed to
help health insurers negoti
ate better deals with phar
maceutical manufacturers,
and then pass those savings
along to consumers.
“But realistically, it’s
hard to know if those sav
ings are actually being
passed along,” Colbert
said. “Pharmacies and
health insurers are buy
ing up PBMs, and it’s be
come especially hard to see
where savings are being
accumulated.”
One bill that will defi
nitely carry over into Jan
uary is House Bill 164,
entitled the Prescription
Drug Consumer Financial
Protection Act. It would
require health insurers to
pass along no less than
80% of all prescription
drug rebates to their enroll-
ees.
“That 80% is consistent
with what the Affordable
Care Act requires," Colbert
said.
“We’ve been having
some very fruitful discus
sions and we’re anticipat
ing a very active legislative
session,” said Gassaway,
who is tackling a tough
public relations challenge:
convincing lawmakers
and their constituents that
making drug prices openly
and readily available to the
general public will, in fact,
lead to higher drug prices.
"If we just put the prices
out in the public domain,
that information will be
used to further manipulate
the market,” she said. “We
are not opposed to show
ing our clients how much
we save them on drugs.
We try to push that price
down but putting a specific
discount out into the pub
lic domain will only cause
prices to rise.
"We have some other,
great ideas on how to make
that information available
to patients in more useful
ways.”
One of CVS Health’s
ideas is making drug pric
es available, in real time, to
doctors when they’re pre
scribing medications. “We
have the ability to make
that information available
at the physicians’ finger
tips, to determine the best
prices,” Gassaway said.
"That kind of information
- such as cost-sharing al
ternatives - would be real
ly helpful to patients.”
Gassaway touts CVS’
member-specific benefit
information, which in
cludes plan information,
deductibles and other data
that, the company said, lets
health-care providers and
CVS members know if a
specific drug is covered as
well as the member’s cost.
CVS said Georgia has
some of the strictest PBM
laws in the country. PBMs
are now required to pub
licly report how close to
a national average many
health plans’ drug prices
were negotiated. The state
is also requiring PBMs to
give state officials some
confidential information
on rebates and other nego
tiating tools.
PBMs are also now re
quired to submit to new
audits by the state De
partment of Community
Health as well as require
ments for publishing data
on prescription prices on
line.
They are also required to
offer full rebates to health
plans that are typically giv
en by drug makers, rather
than pocketing a portion.
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia’s unemploy
ment rate and the number of unemployed
have both fallen to pre-pandemic levels.
But the state’s labor force is also be
low what it was when COVID-19 struck
Georgia in March of last year and shows
no signs of bouncing back.
The unemployment rate declined two-
tenths of a percentage point last month
to 3.5%, lower than the 3.6% jobless rate
posted in March 2020, the Georgia De
partment of Labor reported Sept. 16. The
number of unemployed dropped to about
182,000, also below the pre-pandemic
level of 187,000.
While those numbers represent good
news for the state’s economy, the labor
force also remained 31,000 below the
number of Georgians in the workforce in
March of last year.
Job losses in the accommodation and
food services and retail trade sectors ne
gated what otherwise would have been a
job gain of more than 4,000 in August.
“Job growth will become stagnant if
we don’t fill the hundreds of thousands
of jobs that we currently have open right
now,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor
Mark Butler said Sept. 16. “We are not
seeing the number of Georgians rejoin
the labor force at the same pace as we are
seeing employers post jobs.”
A survey conducted by the labor de
partment found that 69% of Georgia
employers have been increasing pay
scales to try to fill vacant jobs. About
46% report they have become more
flexible with education and experience
requirements of jobseekers, and more
than a third say they have enhanced
benefits.
Jobseekers responding to the survey
said they were discouraged from ap
plying due to a lack of qualifications,
fear of COVID exposure and a desire
for higher salaries and benefits.
“Based on what we are seeing, it may
take months, if not years, for the job
market to return to some type of nor
malcy.” Butler said.
First-time unemployment claims
were down 19% last month from July
and declined 81% compared to August
of last year.
The number of employed Georgians
rose by 15,686 last month to nearly 5
million.
The sectors with the most over-the-
month job gains included administra
tive and support services, which posted
a gain of 3,500 jobs; professional, sci
entific, and technical services, which
gained 2.500 jobs: and non-durable
goods manufacturing, which saw an in
crease of 1.000.
There are more 200,000 jobs posted
on Employ GA. In many cases, em
ployers are willing to train quality can
didates and assist with obtaining addi
tional credentials.
U.S. Senate candidate Black lands
dozens of GOP endorsements
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - Georgia Agriculture
Commissioner Gary Black’s U.S.
Senate bid is attracting support from a
significant number of Republicans in
the General Assembly despite former
President Donald Trump’s endorse
ment of Herschel Walker.
Black announced Monday the en
dorsements of 55 GOP legislators,
including Georgia House Majority
Leader Jon Burns of Newington and
the chairmen of the legislature’s two
appropriations committees. Rep. Ter
ry England of Auburn and Sen. Blake
Tillery of Vidalia.
“I have worked with these leaders
on everything from agriculture policy
to food safety and petroleum issues,
and they know me, my priorities, and
my determination,” Black said. “That
familiarity makes their support that
much more important to me, and I am
very grateful for it.”
Black’s list of legislative endorse
ments announced Monday also includ
ed House Majority Whip Matt Hatch
ett of Dublin, 16 House committee
chairs, Senate Majority Caucus Vice
Chairman Larry Walker III of Perry,
and six Senate committee chairs.
Black landed endorsements earlier
from former Gov. Nathan Deal, ex-
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gaines-
ville, and three Republican members
of the state Public Service Commis
sion.
“Gary Black has proven to be one
of the hardest working, most straight
forward leaders I know,” said Rep.
Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, chairman
of the House Health and Human Ser
vices Committee.
“I have seen firsthand how he solves
problems, builds relationships, and
helps people in every corner in our
state. As our next U.S. senator, no
body will be a better advocate for
Georgia."
Black’s support from Georgia elect
ed officials could position him to
wage a spirited Republican primary
campaign against Walker, the Uni
versity of Georgia football icon who
jumped into the race last month at
Trump’s urging. Trump formally en
dorsed Walker earlier this month.
Walker’s virtually universal name
recognition among Georgia voters
gives him an advantage over Black
and two other Republicans vying for
the Senate nomination: Latham Sad
dler, an Atlanta banking executive and
former Navy SEAL officer; and Kel
vin King, a small business owner and
Air Force veteran also from Atlanta.
The winner of next May’s GOP Sen
ate primary will take on incumbent
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock
in the general election in November
2022.