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THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: Do The Right Thing
*Six people have been arrested in connection with the recent gang rape of a 15-year old girl in Richmond, California. And police say the group of people who stood by without stopping it or calling for help could face charges too.
At least one of the bystanders said he didn’t report the crime because he was afraid of retaliation. Would he have done the same had the victim been a relative or close friend? I doubt it.
It’s funny (peculiar – not haha!) how some people in a position to help others fail to show empathy for those in need. Some U.S. Congress people are guilty of the same behavior when it comes to healthcare reform. A prime example is a recent bill that was up for debate before the House Energy and Commerce committee.
Committee members had a chance to help lower the cost of prescription drugs by voting for legislation that would give biotechnology companies only five years of exclusive rights to sell a drug before generic – yet comparably effective- versions of the same drug could be sold at a cheaper price. Biotechnology drugs are said to be a new more natural form of pharmaceutical.
Anybody who has paid for a prescription knows generic drugs cost less than the name brand version. So it seems a no-brainer that lawmakers should want to support shorter exclusivity rights because it would create more competition in the market that would lower the costs of prescription drugs for their constituents.
President Barack Obama proposed seven years as a compromise with drug companies. The Federal Trade Commission even has argued there should be no exclusivity window for drug company giants. But the Energy and Commerce committee voted 47-11 to change the current legislation set at 5 years to extend it to 12 years.
That decision is good for drug companies who want to charge the sick more money for new drugs for a longer period of time before there is competition from generic drug makers who charge way less for the same product. Why would a member of congress support such a measure? Follow the money.
According to the Nov. 2 issue of Time Magazine, some lawmakers with biotechnology firms housed in their districts and with lots of campaign donations from those firms are voting for big business instead of the little people.
Some lawmakers might see parallels between their behavior and that of a character in the movie Saw VI. One of the characters in that movie is an insurance executive whose job is to deny a person’s insurance claim based on loopholes designed to save the company millions of dollars they should be paying to sick claimants. The lives of many people were affected by his decisions just to save his company money. And this man became a victim in his own game.
While I don’t wish for a real life jigsaw experience for members of congress who put their own self interests ahead of the taxpayers they are sworn to represent, I wish they would see their own family and friends in the faces of the masses and do the right. Because the life they save could be that of someone they love.
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