Local pharmacies, skin color bias, shutdown, school funding

Behind the fall of local pharmacies

I was disappointed that the article “Pharmacy ends decadeslong service” [News, Oct. 8] did not include the real reason for shutting the operation. The pharmacy only mentioned that it had experienced significant operating deficits in recent years.

The underlying cause for most retail pharmacy closures over the past 20 years or so can be attributed to the growth and proliferation of pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs. These middlemen have taken the lion’s share of profits out of the pharmacy coffers, leaving owners scrambling to pay their bills and make ends meet.

Before PBMs came onto the scene, people still had prescription coverage, patients got their medicine just fine, and pharmacy owners were properly compensated for their service.

Once PBMs arrived, the retail pharmacy landscape changed forever.

The PBMs dictate the reimbursement structure, the copays for the patients, the formularies that doctors must follow, the network of stores that patients must go to, the mail-order operation that patients must use or face higher copays, and worst of all, the concept of “prior authorization” for certain medications which adds a tremendous administrative burden to everyone concerned from the doctor to the patient to the pharmacy — all uncompensated for their time.

— Christian Borg, Huntington

The writer is a retired pharmacist.

Skin color shapes how we’re treated

A reader showed no compassion for the hardworking immigrants who are looking for a better life, whether arriving here through legal channels or not [“There are two kinds of immigrants,” Letters, Oct. 8]. These immigrants do jobs that many Americans are loathe to do — cleaning people, waiters, cashiers, and landscapers’ helpers.

Has this reader forgotten the immigrants who escaped the Nazi onslaught with nothing? Born in Havana, I came to the United States with my family in 1964 to escape the communist regime. Our home, possessions, and business were confiscated. I speak fluent Spanish and am Caucasian.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who is just doing his job, recently approached me when he heard me speaking Spanish and quickly backed away when he apparently saw that I am white skinned with green eyes.

The color of our skin still seems to determine how we will be treated. What a wonderful yet flawed world we inhabit.

— Fani Gellman, Merrick

While I can understand parents’ concern about their children’s welfare if they were to be deported, they must take full responsibility for the situation. They entered the country illegally of their own free will. No one forced them.

Deportation is a consequence of their actions.

— Judy Riccuiti, Farmingdale

If immigrants being hunted down by ICE were English-speaking and white, there likely would be an outcry for amnesty and a reasonable path for attaining citizenship, but those targeted are largely Hispanic. Our deportation policy is racist and shameful.

— Thomas Horan, Yaphank

Who will make move to end fed shutdown?

The argument about who caused the U.S. government shutdown is ridiculous [“Fed shutdown enters new week with no end in sight,” News, Oct. 13]. Democrats could have prevented it by not filibustering; Republicans could have prevented it by negotiating.

But who can end it? Democrats who would support a continuing resolution to stop the shutdown in exchange for what might be an empty promise to negotiate would be making a poor deal. But Republicans engaging in serious negotiations could end this debacle. Let’s see how long it takes.

— Christopher Paul, Bayport

School districts can’t run on merit alone

While Michael Dobie broadly covers the premise of Long Island’s resiliency despite the implied stressors, I take issue with this statement: “ … yes, taxes remain high, thanks primarily to school district levies that are worth it in some high-performing districts but of questionable value in others where it’s not clear that you are getting what you are paying for” [“Where exactly is Long Island heading?,” Opinion, Oct. 12].

What exactly is he alluding to, that underperforming districts are undeserving of operational financing? Are they supposed to make do with limited resources, underpaid teachers and support staff, food programs, or building maintenance? One cannot assert that one district’s teachers and administrators are not working as hard to achieve educational standards in comparison to wealthier districts.

Is Dobie implying the need for merit-based subsidies or lower taxes based on performance? Indeed, lower-income communities should not be saddled with high taxes, but in a fair system, shouldn’t state and federal governments provide proportional assistance or grants rather than eliminate them, as the path this current administration is pursuing?

— Thomas Olivieri, Smithtown