Archive for November, 2017

We want to wish everyone who has served or is currently serving our country a very blessed Veterans Day.

Thank you for all that you have done to protect us and this country we love.

You are in our thoughts and prayers as we remember all current and former military on this special day.

To celebrate Veterans Day, which actually falls this year on Saturday, November 11, there will be a Memorial Service at 11 am at the Civil War Monument at Industrial Parkway and U. S. Highway 42 (10050 Industrial Parkway) in Jerome Township. Please stop and honor all those who have given us our freedom. Abraham Lincoln will deliver a message.

For more information, visit the Jerome Township Civil War Memorial Facebook site HERE.

There will also be a Plain City Veterans Day Celebration sponsored by the American Legion Post 248, VFW, and Darby Post 3268 from 10:30-11:30 am on Friday, November 10 at the Plain City Elementary School, 580 South Chillicothe Street. Music will be presented by the Jonathan Alder Band.

The photo is of our dad, Bob Timmons, when he was in the Navy in the late 1960’s. We want to thank him and all our veterans for their service.

The Ohio Pharmacists Association (OPA) is urging their pharmacist members to get the word out and tell their patients and community members to vote NO on Issue 2.

Pharmacy groups are not the only ones who are opposed to Issue 2, however. Doctors and nurses are also concerned that the ballot issue could increase the prices of medications for most Ohioans while also limiting the access to medications for people with lower incomes who use Medicaid. The Ohio Nurses Association, the Ohio State Medical Association, and nearly 60 total healthcare and professional groups are also opposing this initiative.

Even The Columbus Dispatch is advising their readers to vote NO.

So what is Issue 2 and why should you vote NO?

Issue 2, which is labelled as the “Ohio Drug Price Relief Act” is a deceptive drug pricing ballot initiative which, according to OPA, would “prohibit Ohio’s state government from paying any more for prescription drugs than the lowest price paid by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).”

While it may seem like a good idea for the state of Ohio to only pay as much as the VA for medicine and, therefore, save money, there are a number of reasons why it is not.

• There is no guarantee that pharmaceutical companies will continue to give the VA huge rebates and price breaks. Instead, they could just decide to increase the costs for the VA if this initiative passes and costs would skyrocket for everyone.
• To make up for their losses in giving price breaks to the state of Ohio, pharmaceutical companies could raise prices for everyone else except the VA and the state as they are not required to charge the same prices to everyone. Therefore, the government would get a benefit, but working Ohioans would end up paying more.
• The VA has their own formulary of medications that they use in order to receive rebates from drug companies. Certain medications are excluded from this list. Using the VA formulary could restrict access to certain medicines for patients covered by the state if those medications are not on the VA’s formulary.
• The costs would not be lowered for Ohioans who receive their insurance through private insurance and are not covered by state programs.
• The costs for Medicare recipients will not be lowered. Medicare is a federal program, not a state program, so this is not covered under this ballot initiative.

Visit the “Vote No on Issue 2” website HERE to find out more.

Read the list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Issue 2 HERE.