As one of only two Republicans on the U.S. House panel probing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney knows well the full impact of Donald Trump's wrath.
When she accepted a 2022 Profile In Courage award fromthe John F. Kennedy Library Foundation last weekend, Cheney said she draws inspiration from her great-great-grandfather, a New Hampshire native who moved toOhioandfought in all four years of the Civil War.
Samuel Fletcher Cheney "was on General (William Tec*mseh) Sherman’s March to the Sea. And he was in the Grand Review of Troops that marched up Constitution Avenue in WashingtonD.C. that marched past a reviewing stand where President (Andrew) Johnson and General (Ulysses S.) Grant were seated," the GOP congresswoman said.
"Samuel Fletcher Cheney and all those who fought for so many generations have known the price of freedom and they knew that they had to defend it," she told those assembled at the Kennedy library in Boston.
"I have found myself, especially since January 6th, thinking often of my great-great-grandfather and of the Union he fought to defend."
Cheneydrew a parallel with the dangerAmerica faces now fromTrump.
"Today, that role is ours as we face a threat we have never faced before –a former president attempting to unravel our constitutional republic. At this moment we must all summon the courage to stand against that. The question for every one of us is in this time of testing, will we do our duty? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics?
"Or will we look away from danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies, and enable the liar?"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among four other recipients of the award this year.The honor isnamed after Kennedy'sPulitzer Prize-winning 1957 book "Profiles in Courage."
Gun group bashes ATF nominee
Whenever journalists wanted a flame-throwing quote from a gun rights advocate, they needed to go no further than Chris Dorr, head of Ohio Gun Owners. He says groups like the NRA and Buckeye Firearms Association are wimps on the Second Amendment.
Dorr, along with brothers Aaron and Ben, have set up vocal gun rights groups in several states – not without controversy. "All of America is Dorr brothers right now," Aaron told NPR.
Now Chris Dorr is head of what they're calling the American Firearms Association. He's taking a leading role in bashing Steve Dettelbach, former U.S. attorney for northern Ohio and 2018 Democratic attorney general candidate who is President Joe Biden's nominee fordirector of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Dettelbach was introducedWednesday by Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown ata confirmation hearing before theSenate Judiciary Committee, hours after the Texas school mass shooting. Whether the Cleveland native will win Senate approval remainsunclear.
Chris Dorr asserts: "Dettelbach is THE henchman needed to implement Biden's new series of executive orders aimed at destroying our Second Amendment rights. ... NOW is the time forgunownersto deliver a resounding HELL NO to the members of the Judiciary Committee – especially the Republicans."
Did Trump really help Vance?
Ohio State emeritus political science professor Paul Beck and five other professors came up with some interesting findings from a poll just before Ohio's May primary.
• Trump's endorsem*nt of J.D. Vance in the GOP U.S. Senate primary really did matter. Of the 70% of Republican voters who heard about the former president's choice, 41% backed Vance, who won the race. But among the 8% who inaccurately thought Trump supported Josh Mandel, 57% chose the former state treasurer.
• Despite the prospectof Democratic nominee Nan Whaley becoming the first woman elected governor in Ohio history, her margin among women voters was not that different: 63% of femaleswere behind her, compared to56% of males– a margin not statistically significant in the poll.
The OSU group used YouGov to conductan online survey of 1,324 Ohio registered voters April 27 to May 2.
3 PBMs in Fortune 12
Invariably, pharmacies battling pharmacy benefit managers cite the immense resources of the companies that own the drug chain middlemen.
Goliath got even bigger in 2021.
Here is the newFortune 500 listing forparent companies of the three PBMs that control about 80% of the market:
• No. 4:CVS Health (behind only Walmart, Amazon, Apple - parent of Caremark)
2021 revenue: $292.11 billion (8.7% increase from 2020)
• No. 5. UnitedHealthGroup (parent of Optum)
2021 revenue: $287.59 billion (11.8% increase)
• No. 12. Cigna (parent of Express Scripts)
2021 revenue: $174.07 billion (8.5% increase)
These vertically integrated corporations, which include health insurers and other players in the drug supply chain, are launching new strategies to increase their bottom line even more. For example, Fortune said CVS's new CEO Karen Lynch, "in a quest to revolutionize America’s access to health care, initiated a plan to transform hundreds of CVS stores into super-clinics that provide primary care – creating what will become the nation’s biggest network of urgent care and primary care outlets."
Meanwhile, the three largest drug wholesalers/distributors together dominate more than 90% of that market. Their Fortune 500 rankings:
9. McKesson
2021 revenue: $238.22 billion (3.1% increase)
2021 revenue: $213.98 billion (12.7% increase)
15. Cardinal Health (based in the Columbus suburb of Dublin)
2021 revenue: $162.46 billion (6.2% increase)
So six out of the top 15 on the Fortune list process prescription drugs in a near-monopolistic business environment.
Senators tackle drug prices
The driveto bring tighter regulations to those controversial PBMs got a boost Tuesday.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and MariaCantwell, D-Washington, rolled out the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2022, which they say "would ban unfair pricing schemes; prohibit arbitrary clawbacks of payments made to pharmacies; and require PBMs to report to the Federal Trade Commissionhow much money they make through spread pricing and pharmacy fees."
Grassley said,“Pharmacy benefit managers and other intermediaries in the pharmaceutical supply chain must be held accountable for increasing the cost of healthcare in the United States."
Cantwell added, "PBMs are the middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain and it’s time for Congress to give the FTC the ability to shine a brighter light onany deceptive and abusive practices.”
Meanwhile, the FTC received hundreds of comments by Wednesday's deadline on a proposed investigation of PBMs, including those from a group of 105 patient advocate organizations that detailed PBM practices that harm access and affordability of drugs.
drowland@dispatch.com
@darreldrowland
