Letters: A good example | PBM probe | Steep cost | Not so smart

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Arenas sets a good
example for leaders

Re: “Supervisor chastises child welfare leaders” (Page A1, Aug. 29).

Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas deserves an epic vote of gratitude for her takedown of the “leaders” of the county child welfare department.

Her anger was justified and appropriate, given the tragic death of Baby Phoenix and the failure of the agency’s policies and procedures, which they tried to conceal.

Arenas set an example for elected officials at all levels when she said, “I’m asking you to be accountable.” Residents are fed up with public meetings where disagreements are “wrapped in polite platitudes” instead of getting problems out in the open and demanding resolution. I hope more will follow her lead.

Meanwhile, get those people — and any others who are not living up to their responsibilities — off the bus.

Pat Marriott
Los Altos

Government should
probe PBMs’ practices

Re: “Middlemen squeezing independent pharmacies” (Page A1, Sept. 1).

I am a retired pharmacist who practiced pharmacy from 1955 to 1998.

I remember the pharmacy benefit managers that started in the 1960s. They negotiated with drug companies in such a manner as to increase their fees at the expense of the independent pharmacies. Because of their negotiating, I would be forced to fill prescriptions at a loss. For example, 100 Zantac cost me $100, and I was reimbursed only $93 if I filled it. Also, CVS Health was part of a PBM that steered customers to CVS Pharmacies. This was so wrong and counterproductive.

I think that our government should investigate PBMs for their very bad practices against all of the independent pharmacies.

Chet Campanella
San Jose

Freedom too steep
a cost for equity

Kamala Harris talks about “equity” and “freedom.” But, equity and freedom are mutually exclusive. You gain more of one at the expense of the other. To establish equity, the government would need to level things off. They would need to take something from one person and give it to another.

Why should a person who works longer hours and sacrifices more than the average person be required to give up that which they sacrificed to build and earn? How is that “freedom”? Does the government have the right to compel people to share?

The Harris campaign has adopted “joy” as its theme. But how can there be any joy if individual freedom is threatened and compromised? Less freedom can never bring joy.

Pete Campbell
San Jose

Vance not as smart
as supporters say

A word frequently used to describe JD Vance is smart. But he is doing his best to put the lie to that notion.

Perhaps his panic over childless elites ruining this country has muddied his thinking. If he’d just shut up about it, the childless elites, in their ignorance, would abstain themselves out of existence, while the procreation-minded right birthed themselves into electoral dominance.

Eugene Ely
San Jose