Letters to the Editor: Mailbag: Opinions offered this week on prescription prices and on Rep. Schiff

Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed in recent years because there have been few, if any, restraints on the cozy relationship between drug companies, insurance conglomerates and corporate medical clinics, to the detriment of patients.

I’m now fully recovered from advanced prostate cancer, which included surgery, radiation treatments, and two years of Lupron injections, which I’m told should prevent cancer cells from returning.

I was disappointed at being told by my insurance company that I could no longer be seen by the doctor who had been treating me and instead needed to finish the second year of my injections and regular checkups at a large corporate clinic with 47 offices in California that had given them the lowest bid for all of its oncology patient business.

The new clinic increased the cost of my injections from $135 to $1,350 per every 90-day treatment. This is not a drug I could stop taking or purchase anywhere but at this clinic. When I complained to my insurance company I was told that my only recourse was to make a formal complaint in writing and request a hearing.

Rather than face me at an open hearing with my lawyer, however, the clinic offered to provide my injection for only $50 each in exchange for dropping the case, which I accepted in order to complete the treatments.

I can only wonder how many other vulnerable cancer patients are being price gouged by the powerful forces who control their treatment?

Doug Weiskopf

Burbank

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The people of Burbank should be so proud of their representative in Congress, Adam Schiff. While President Trump has been engaged in putting Americans back to work and creating jobs — leading to a 3.8% unemployment rate — and negotiating better trade deals for Americans, Schiff has been pushing a lie and conspiracy theories on national TV regularly for the last 18 months. Yes, the rest of the country has been seeing your representative on CNN and other news outlets pushing what may be the biggest lie in politics for some time — that the Trump administration colluded with Russia. Schiff told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News in February that there was “ample evidence of collusion of the campaign and it’s very much in the public record.” I lived in Burbank for many years and my wife was born and raised there. I am so embarrassed that instead of helping to improve the lives of all, Schiff has made it his mission take down the president.

One can only hope that the people of your district will now demand that Schiff begin focusing on promoting policies that will help improve your daily quality of life. In the event he doesn’t, one would hope that you would find a candidate in the next election that will.

Chuck Hawley

Tampa, Fla.