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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.