The profits of the petroleum industry are unheard of in America. And you may not be aware of it, but they continue to be subsidized by your federal government through tax breaks. However, compared to the companies who control life and death, they are generous, caring corporations.

The pharmaceutical companies have a policy of raising prices on the most important, life-saving drugs their companies manufacture. Big pharma is no better than the drug lords who raise prices of their illegal drugs once their customers are addicted; they’re worse.

Many Americans cannot afford medicines which could prolong their lives or actually save them. This is criminal.

New research published in JAMA Neurology on Monday reports that the annual cost of “self-administered disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis more than quadrupled” between 2006-2016, raising the mean yearly costs for drugs from $18,660 to $75,847. The median American family income is $61,372. The out-of-pocket spending for a patient needing these drugs has risen from $372 annually in 2006 to $2,673 in 2016.

The number one issue in our 2020 election will remain healthcare. Most Americans believe in a system which will offer medical care for everyone at little or no cost. Currently In the area of effective and affordable medical care, America ranks 37^th in the entire world; we can and we must do better.

Does it make sense that the CEO’s of the pharmaceutical companies receive tens-of-millions of dollars each year while thousands of Americans suffer and even lose their lives unable to afford medicines they so desperately need?

It was a line in a movie, but it is a fact; “America is not a country, it’s a business.” Until Washington begins to place people ahead of profits, America will continue to be known as one of the developed nations with the lowest quality of life.

Your vote can change our nation. Republicans have not listened to the American people for more than three decades. They promise to care for you and those you love until they win their elections, and then obey special interests whose demands are often directly opposed to your needs.

On November 3, 2020 we can save America by electing young men and women who will aggressively change the direction of the United States. Women comprise nearly 52 percent of the population and congress must reflect this fact.

Finally, a woman president will end the failures of old, white men since 1789. Don’t talk about change; be the change.

Tell everyone, “the truth lives here.”

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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