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Show Sey . - cy 8A Saturday, Oct. 12, 1991 BUSH HIS BACK TURNED HAS ON THE MIDDLE CLASS. DEMOCRATS WOULD NEVER DO THAT. Fitting day to salute newspaper Carriers The themeof today’s golden anniversary of International Newspaper Carrier Day is “The Ones to Count on Time After Time.” There’s no better way to characterize the 810 newspaper carriers and their 50 adult motor-route counterparts who are the emissaries between our readers and the StandardExamineras it arrives daily on neighborhood doorsteps. There’s substantial evidence that they perform their jobs to the great satisfaction of the majority of our subscribers. There prime responsibility is to get the newspaper to homes while the newsis fresh, only hours of the press, to more than 55,300 subscribers seven days a week. The evidence that they provide good services lies with Vi //~X Le CY mp0 the minute number of complaints that are received at the newspaper’s circulation office: 1.3 complaints per 1,000 papers; well under the national average. IT NOULD MAKE PICKING THEIR TO INBOSSIBLE. . Standard-Examiner newspaper carriers are scattered among our readers in Morgan, Davis, Weber and Box EIder counties. They willingly and enthusiastically assume the duties of delivering our product containing a wealth of varied information, brimming with international, national, state and local news as well as advertisements and entertainment 9A SPRINGField News Sani New Saw features such as the comics to the doorstep of our sub- scribers who generally reside in their geographic area. In other words, they are the sons and daughters of your neighbors. k at home its the Lotfo. Each carrier is self-employed and an independent con- ” , EARTHY, ModerEXCITING? tractor who is responsible to pay for the purchase of the ($35.00) newspaper andin return, sell it to the subscriber. Their earnings are about $2.10 a month plustips, per subscriber. The average route has about 50 customers. If a subscriber fails to settle up, it is the carrier whofinancially suffers. iS put out to Migratory pasture,bought workers Org niZE a university b and negotiate a nice dental wth a federal Accepting the responsibility of delivering the daily grant, and newspaper is a commitmentto deliver the paper whether plan MAcloned with a duck. ($29.98) “Warm and it is sunny, cloudy, cold or wet. If there is a complaint,it is the carrier who must respond.If there is a football game or a carnival after school, carriers must forego the plea- mit tops.° ($19.95) eyocative.* sures to see that the newspaper gets delivered on time. feSs ae Sten ete RR INRMNERDTT o The rewards are many. The learning experience establishes a lifetime value system that is immeasurably beneficial. Personal growth andsatisfaction are fringe benefits. Often a paper route will remain in a family as it is passed on to youngersiblings. Asyou read today’s edition of the Standard-Examiner, please take note of the valuable and dedicated service of your individual carrier — the young boy or girl who is gaining knowledge and experience as an entrepreneur. 1) CoPLe Seky,“te, oe Theyare your direct link with the Standard-Examiner. They provide you a product that is designed to quench your thirst for information, satisfy your desire to know whatis going on in your community as well as elsewhere. Newspaper carriers bring the world to your doorstep. Salute them on this, their special day. POINT/COUNTERPOINT Prescription costs too high — here’s what to do aboutit If you can afford them, prescription drugs can save lives and reduce the need for more expensive medical interventions. The problem is, of course, fewer and fewer Americans can afford the medications they so desperately need. During the 1980s, while the general inflation rate rose 58 percent, the prescription drug inflation rate increased a staggering 152 percent. Incredibly, prices are increasing this year at a rate that actually exceeds the unprecedented inflation rates of the 1980s It was the hope of many in Congress that the 1990 enactment of a Medicaid drug rebate law, coupled with the scrutiny given to drug prices over thelast few years by congressional committees, would send a strong message that skyrocketing price increases would no longer be tolerated Unfortunately, the messageis falling on deafears within most of the drug manufacturing industry as the following findings of a just released Senate Special Committee on Agingstaff report attest @ Duringthe first six months of this year, the over all general inflation rate was 3.3 percent, while the prescription drug inflation 11.2 percent. rate D al) ticals why Ay in } are the people bargair ‘ i n i ween ; more for prescription drugs than average Canadian citizen and 54 percent more than the average Europe- an citizen The drug manufa turers response to these and the other 30 findings in the Aging Committee staff report can best be described as tired, old and pathetic. The industry's re-recycled argument “we need these high prices and huge profits t d research and development” is not going to sell this time. ¢ ynsider these GERALD J. MOSSINGHOFF Drug p s 4 4 " aA g a ar S14 } x @ The Se as a s T i § dis W seases i¢ in e, h 1, Dp effective s Aging.) n $ 5 . a 5 i Prot v . £. a eCut product liability costs. The high cost of pro tecting against the possibility of huge, un reasonable iceless econom $2 U.S. competitiveness over industry is one of the The bottom line would be fewer breakthrough medicines, higher overall health care costs, and a weaker economy in ate d seas, where the pharmaceutical gioa st t sf s h since a Fortunately, there are several steps we can take to have remained reia to figures hurting innovat Commerce De ndeniable attra rT } i future breakthrough drugs; the benefits to society will U.S. p fact that the y is engag sk endeavors — only in 5.000 compounds screened makes it to mar- % international patent pirates, who copy their drugs .. clearly dampenthe incentives to innovate, to the det niment not only of nts and of the industry but of : AC i of dollars fering lect Committee on without permission. make prescription medicines more affordable without 7 arnt heart diseas an ha ted stable 33 S we C s ts diabetes s ihe indus al al sis, American as apple pie. It is time we turned the drug industry's raw deal into a fair deal (David Pryor, D-Ark., is chairman ofthe Senate Se- R&D — more than four times the rate of other in- few bright spots. — ‘ Ke r pr up 5 d seases carl Gisease st i rT tT I { pas Geve al me the 7 resea urrentliy A n rt xeTCUlOS 5 rect saved 3 ie The rc tion rate, while substantially increasing its investment in research. Simply stated, Americans are getting a poor return on their multibillion-dollar investment in prescription drugs. That will change if we can get legislation enacted to reduce a $2 billion tax credit to manufacturers that inflate drug prices higher than the inflation rate. Revenue saved from this incentive mechanism would be partly funneled into a new Federal Prescription Drug Trust Fund, which would help establish a prescription drug benefit for the needy. The idea here is to benefit consumers ofprescription drugs, even if the drug manufacturersstill are not responding to our pleas for compassion. It is my strong belief that taxpayer-underwritten financial rewards should be linked to achievable performance standards: standards the pharmaceutical industry is certainly failing to meet. This carrot-and-stick business approach is as dustries. This commitment to research will result in The proposals advanced by Senator Pryor would h $ €>4 pharmac @ Finally, in Canada, the drug industry has volun- tx ar “ s 1 i witt §$ tion tarily agreed to limit its price increases to theinfla- tacts health t ng : w According to a 1991 HHS Office Inspector General’s report, the average American pays 62 percent R we Ss. < i 1 best “— ps a! than triples the 4.6 percent profit margin of the average Fortune 500 company spend : 1s tion increased 1.3 percent in August 1991. wif current inflation trends continue, a $20 prescription drug purchased in 1980 will increase by 600 percent to $120.88 by the turn ofthe century wAt a time when Americans are scrimping and Saving to afford their medications, the drug industry’s annual average 15.5 percent profit margin more mAfter the industry’s investment in R&Dthat we hear so much about, the drug manufacturers. are averaging profit margins that triple the average Fortune 500 club member. w The drug industry says it needs such profit returns to attract capital, but they certainly do not need a return on shareholder investments that industry anilysts say is consistently 50 percent higher than the average Fortune 500 companyto attract capital. w Americans are already providing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for the industry’s R&D investment. gw The drug companies whose R&D investment has brought no newbreakthrough drugs to market are the very same companiesthat are increasing prices at the highest rates mw According to industry analysts, the drug industry is spending a billion dollars more a year on marketing than it is on research. g@ Oneof the largest investors in R&D in the industry — Merck — is holding its price increasesto infla- have increased, butit is money well spent i Pharma H s ; was an astoundir Even more distressing, drug priceinfla DAVID PRYOR i men s st 5 asea ot sa p @ Streamline the drug approval process. The aver age cost of getting a drug onto the U.S, market could be cut substantially if clinical testing and FDA r view times were reduced to the level of those of ma r European countries such as Britain @ Reduce patent piracy. U.S. research-based pharmaceutical companies lose about $5 billion a year to That loss drives up prices ry awards in product liability cases adds millions to drug development costs and pushes prices up. A re form of the tort system would help make medicines nore affordable There are also some things individuals can do to cut their own prescription drug costs @ Consider insurance plans that cover prescr ption medicines elf you have a chronic illness that requires using a prescription medicine over a long period, ask your doctor to prescribe a larger quantity to help cut costs eShop around, compare prices, and choose the pharmacy that gives you the best value for vour Gerald aad« J. ii Moassinehoff Manufacturers president of the Pharma A Scripps Howard |