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Real reform starts with PBMs

Working in public health has given me a front-row seat to how hard it has become for Iowa families to simply stay healthy. I’ve spent years volunteering with mobile clinics and nonprofit groups, meeting people who are blocked at every turn by pharmacy benefit managers. These PBMs sit between patients and their prescriptions with zero transparency. It’s heartbreaking to stand in a mobile clinic and watch a patient walk away without the medication their doctor prescribed because a PBM denied it or pushed a different, higher-priced drug. I’ve seen patients end up in the ER over ...

COP climate talks

As world leaders gather for climate talks, one major contributor to climate change continues to be sidelined: industrial animal agriculture. While energy and transportation dominate the conversation, factory farming remains a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. Ignoring this reality weakens any serious climate plan. We cannot meet climate goals while leaving animal agriculture off the table. Fortunately, solutions already exist. Shifting toward plant-based foods reduces emissions, conserves water, and lessens pressure on ...

Our representatives

Dear Editor, Iowa’s significant public health crisis, high cancer rates and polluted waters don’t bother Representatives Blom and Fisher as they are questioned about the upcoming legislative session in the TR. In their final comments Blom asks people to contact him, which I have done, and he has not responded. Even Grassley at age 92 responds to letters. Fisher just gaslights about spending, book censorship and making Iowa a place to raise a family. My family is tired of cancer. Many things are more important than censoring library books.

Iowa can’t survive its current government

Iowa cannot survive another government that we have been living with. Grassley still getting a paycheck for governing must be an easy job. Healthcare — let’s demand what they have! Those responsible for meeting once a month with the resident council at IVH did not meet once and denied them more than $120 a month from their pension. How about free rent, better meals? Reynolds decreased food budget twice. The last filling, delicious meals were from the private company that Branstad hired then fired because it was costing him too much money. The last good governor was Tom Vilsack. ...

In between Testaments

When the Old Testament came to a close, there were preachers who brought their message to the people as instructed. Hosea began the preaching with the fact he was going to take a prostitute as a wife: Hosea’s wife is a picture of Israel seeking other gods. Joel says that “A nation is coming to my land, they will lay the land bare.” Amos says, “The Lord will roar from Zion and will not stop any Heavenly punishment dealt to the Israelites; Obadiah says, Israel’s pride has deceived you.” Jonah said that “in forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown.” Micah says that the Lord ...

The ugly American

The Dec. 12 T.R. article “Trump Leads America Boldly into Decline” by syndicated writer Froma Harrop was just a scratch on the moral decadence, the corruption of Democracy and the unraveling of the rule law spewing from America’s highest office. Watching Trump’s racist disparage of Somalia, his outrageous claim that Venezuelan oil is America’s oil, the barbaric extra judicial bombing and killing of suspected drug runners, his high jacking of an Venezuelan oil tanker, the continuation of illegal sanctions against Venezuela, Trump’s release of two U.S. ...