About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2018)
4A OPINION Sttnes gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, November 20, 2018 Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. LETTERS It’s time to Do more to prevent wildfires create step therapy reform in Georgia Imagine a patient with Type 2 diabetes goes to her local pharmacy to pick up her prescrip tion for medication to manage her blood sugar levels. When she goes to the prescription counter, her pharmacist explains that her insurance company will not cover the medication without her first “failing” on other medications — in some cases medications she’s already tried. This process is what’s known as step therapy. It’s a scenario I hear all too often from patients in my role as a diabetes educator — and it affects far more than just Georgians living with diabetes. Step therapy is utilized by health insurance plans in an attempt to contain costs. It requires patients to “try and fail” medications the insurer dictates before receiving the treatment determined by their physician to be the most appropriate and effective. Unfortunately, very little oversight of step therapy exists. There is also a lack of evidence showing these “fail first” policies are effective or take into consideration adverse effects of insurance company’s preferred medications. Some of the common chronic disease states that are targeted for step therapy are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, HIV/AIDs, rheumatoid arthritis and hepatitis C. Patients put through step therapy commonly face lengthy appeal processes, which lack appropriate health care professional oversight, as well as inconsistent and outdated guidelines for medication recommendations. Already, 18 states have passed legislation that is designed to reign in step therapy. I hope Geor gia will soon become one as well. During the 2018 legislative session earlier this year, Rep. Sharon Cooper, long-term serving chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, and Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick intro duced bills to reform step therapy in Georgia. These bills would have limited step therapy and fail first protocols and were championed by patient groups from across the state, many of whom had personal stories of how step therapy had affected their members. The diligent work of Chairwoman Cooper paid off when her bill passed the House unani mously. Unfortunately, despite support from a number of lawmakers in the Senate, the bill ultimately did not advance. Regardless, the work done by Chairwoman Cooper and Sen. Kirkpatrick deserves applause, and it is my hope that during the upcoming ses sion, both the Georgia House and Senate will take action to cut through the red tape of step therapy on behalf of Georgia patients. Mandy Reece Gainesville Unrealistic, closed-minded thinking isn’t going to help A recent letter writer on Nov. 17 decried the fact that 10 major issues divide the nation. He asks for wisdom, but fails to see that his own narrow views preclude meaningful discus sion and resolution of his issues. For one, the injection of rigid, personal reli gious views into any issue is not conducive to understanding. In this case, reproductive free dom and nontraditional marriage are consid ered to be violations of religious tenets — no discussion allowed. Second, there seems to be an assumption that a large federal government, business regula tion, globalization and taxes violate fundamental American values. The fact is that the tiny U.S. nation of 1787 bears no resemblance to the vastness, inter connectedness and complexity of the modern world. Any government must have the funding, resources and capabilities to deal with the reali ties that it faces. The writer seems to be unaware that the weak U.S. governments of the 1800s did virtually noth ing to prevent numerous devastating business depressions. It took us well over 100 years to realize that we needed a government with sufficient power to constrain the excesses of pure capitalism, as well as deal with other complicated matters. A closely related topic is that of health care. Despite its immense failures, we are supposed to accept that free-market health care is the best solution. But the fact is that Medicare is by far the most efficient health care system in the U.S. There is no skimming off the top of admin costs and profits. Yes, taxes pay for Medicare but are far less than premiums paid for traditional health insurance. The writer casts our differences as those between liberal and conservative. In actuality, solutions to problems primarily revolve around realistic assessment and practi calities. Unexamined truisms really have noth ing to offer and often put us on the wrong path. Open-mindedness and wisdom will work far better. Jim Grattan Gainesville To submit letters: Send submissions by email to letters@gainesvilletimes.com or from the form at www.gainesvilletimes.com. Please include your full name, hometown and phone number. By McClatchy California Opinion Editors The Camp Fire has claimed more than 60 victims, and rescue workers continue to search for hundreds who are still missing. The Tubbs Fire, around Santa Rosa, killed 22 in 2017. Mudslides following the Thomas Fire in Southern California killed 20 people last year. Just months ago, seven people perished in the Carr Fire in Redding. There are nearly 9,000 firefighters bat tling blazes this week in Malibu and Butte County. Californians are anxious. And with our attention fixed on Paradise, we wonder: who will be next? Scientists predict extreme fire danger across much of the West will become the new normal by the middle of the 21st cen tury, per a recent report by the U.S Forest Service. Jerry Brown, California’s outgo ing governor, says we’re already living in the new abnormal. Our hearts go out to those who have lost family, friends, pets and homes. One of the most-read stories on SacBee.com this week is about how to help, and there’s no question your support is needed and appreciated. But when it comes to tangible steps that will reduce tragedies, we face a long road. State and federal agencies, environ mentalists, businesses and homeown ers must take seats at the same table. We need a clear understanding of risks and tradeoffs and we need strategies to reduce the likelihood of another catastrophe. There is room for optimism. “Sometimes out of catastrophe comes greater unity,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told The Bee’s Dale Kasler Wednesday in Butte County. Brown said Wednesday we should “learn how to do this together.” There are plenty of places to dig in: ■ Are we doing enough to build fire resistance into our communities? Should building (or rebuilding) be allowed in fire-prone communities? Why spend mil lions on a mansion in the hills if we risk loss of life to defend it? Can homeown ers or homeowners’ associations accept responsibility for the risk that comes with a view of beautiful, old-growth trees out the kitchen window? As homeowners, we must take personal responsibility for maintaining our land. ■ For those who already live in high- risk areas, let’s be proactive about cutting power lines that spark fires. What are the safest steps in areas where it’s difficult, or even impossible, to bury lines? Are we prepared to live off generators during red-flag conditions? ■ Evacuation routes are inadequate. What can we put in place as we move forward — sirens, improved reverse 911 calls or other solutions? ■ We must improve forest manage ment. We’ve been talking about this for decades. The biggest threat to our forests is not tree loss from harvesting. It is cata strophic events such as wildfires. Forests will continue to burn and they will burn into our cities if we do not work together to reduce fuel. Sawmills can be retrofit ted to accommodate smaller-diameter trees, those that are now serving as kin dling for major fires. How can we respon sibly remove those trees and cut down on chaparral and brush? ■ We can also look at roadways, which are major flashpoints for human- caused fires. State lawmakers are working on a proposal to thin vegetation growing near along forest roads, a logical solution to make fire-prone areas more defensible. ■ One of Gavin Newsom’s first priori ties as governor must be to convene an inclusive and thoroughly serious summit on this issue. He must provide it with direction and deadlines. ■ Breathing the smoke from these fires is dangerous. Period. The chemicals and particulates it contains worsen virtu ally every respiratory condition; often severely. Realize we all are in danger from these fires. Private landowners, environmen talists, the federal government and California’s incoming governor and lawmakers all have a role. All of us have a responsibility to demand change and to acknowledge that it comes only if we work together. If we do not, California will continue to burn. Our friends and family will con tinue to be at risk for homelessness and, as we have seen this week, far worse. This editorial was crafted by opinion editors in McClatchy’s five California newsrooms: The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, The Merced Sun-Star and The Tribune in San Luis Obispo. OK... concede ABRAMS TIME JIM POWELL I For The Times TV media puts Trump on a pedestal BY ROB COHEN The Baltimore Sun Much is being made of the president’s targeting of CNN’s Jim Acosta, but TV news bears as much blame as anyone for our democracy’s dystopian decline, culminating in the presidency of an igno ramus with a personality disorder. With Congress supine and the courts packed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, read ily consumable news stands as the last guardrail of American democracy. Yet rather than fulfilling that vital role, TV news unwittingly amplified Donald Trump’s propaganda during the 2016 presidential election and now perpetu ates it with such blind reliability that it must surprise even him. They must immediately stop doing three things: repeating his demagoguery verbatim, playing the outrage game and focusing on him to the exclusion of other important stories. Instead, they must embrace their solemn duty and educate the population about our great chal lenges — ratings be damned. A famous journalist once said “The vitality of democracy itself depends today upon the popular knowledge of complex questions.” How far we are from that ideal — and President Trump needs it that way. His strategy to distract and divide the country is so obvious at this point that we have no excuse not to counter it. He has stated repeatedly that “all press is good press.” He intentionally does something outrageous, such as insulting a sexual assault survivor or prisoner of war, and TV news always reacts predictably. In their shameless quest for ratings, anchors read his tweets verbatim or show clips of his vile behavior. They then spend hours fomenting outrage instead of covering myriad other worthy stories. They project him into our subconscious from TVs in airports, gyms and office buildings. Reluctant Trump supporters feel the backlash from the media, whom they already distrusted, which drives them closer to him. President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution “against all ene mies foreign and domestic,” yet he vio lates that oath nearly every day. Sadly, due to either myopia or greed, TV news has abetted his effort to remake America in his image, making them currently no less destructive than he. If they intend by their behavior to protect American democracy, it isn’t working. Domestic terrorism is on the rise. Meanwhile, Brett Kavanaugh got confirmed to the Supreme Court in part because major news outlets ran with some salacious but dubious allegations of sexual assault. By stooping to his level, CNN gave Sen. Lindsey Graham an excuse to draw moral equivalency and remind Trump supporters why they hated the media. Democrats lost major ground in Senate races. We are re-learning old wisdom: “Never wrestle with a pig; you’ll both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” In short, American democracy’s Achil les’ heels are ignorance and demagogu ery, and the amoral Donald Trump will exploit them as long as we allow him to. If we keep behaving in the way that fueled his rise, we should not expect a different result. That isn’t fair, but fair ness isn’t on the menu. We should not expect fairness in an existential fight against an amoral man. TV news must therefore stop reward ing President Trump’s behavior, even if it means their ratings decrease in the short-term. When I was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2015,1 watched disgustedly as CNN focused for months on Rachel Dolezal, Caitlyn Jenner and Malaysia Flight 370, instead of the war we were fighting or the climate change destroying our future. CNN followed this debase ment with a year of wall-to-wall cover age of Donald Trump, becoming his useful idiot. It is not a coincidence that the stupe faction of CNN immediately presaged President Trump’s rise. TV news has dug a hole, and it’s time to stop digging. Dr. Rob Cohen is a physician, Army veteran and host of The Democrises Podcast. She Stines EDITORIAL BOARD Founded Jan. 26,1947 345 Green St., Gainesville, GA 30501 gainesvilletimes.com General Manager Norman Baggs Editor in Chief Shannon Casas Community member Brent Hoffman
