February 19, 2020 Issue, Page 3 of 10

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Wednesday, February 19, 2020 Brand new state agenda offers Opinion Page “ElkCituNews lifeline to rural Oklahoma Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 states, the Brand New State the only policy areas that the issue of criminal justic: Don’t legalize By Minority Leader Emily Virgin agenda puts a billion dollars have been affected by the in- reform. Through both legis The House Democratic into Oklahomas health care action of state government. lation and the initiative peti discrimination Caucus unveiled a future for Oklahoma this past week. system at no additional cost This year, Governor Stitt, tion process, Oklahoma ha to Oklahoma taxpayers. who was against the teach- made great strides in reduc Through dramatic chang- While hospitals across er walkout for education in ing our incarceration rate against people es to our criminal justice system, education system, Oklahoma closed and re- 2018 and the revenue-raising but the work is not yet done package that gave teachers a Through increased access t« duced services, Oklahomas with disabilities health care system, and the workforce, specifically low pay raise, proposed a budget mental health services anc states economy, the House and middle-wage earners, that increases state funding policy changes that put peo Democratic Caucus put to- were called on to pick up the for public schools by $12 By Kenneth E. Thorpe gether a plan that invests slack for a loss of state reve- million and private schools ple ahead of punitive justice Imagine if the federal government treated disabled Amer- not in banks, corporations, nue due to tax cuts and cred- by $25 million. This is theft. the Brand New State agen icans as second-class citizens. It’s an appalling thought. or wealthy individuals who its for high-earning individu- Our public schools are being da continues our states ef But it could happen soon -- if some special interest groups are already doing well but in als and corporations. While robbed of public monies that forts to create a fair and jus get their way. everyday people. Our Brand wealthier Oklahomans ben- should be helping schools criminal justice system tha Here’s how. In numerous foreign countries, government- New State agenda is a com- efited from the removal of across the state reduce class focuses on public safety anc run healthcare systems already rely on discriminatory mitment to Oklahomans who income brackets, working sizes and provide a better common sense rather thay means to deny certain treatments to people with disabili- have been left behind by Oklahomans suffered from educational environment for retribution. ties. Those nations decide which new medicines to cover their state government. the reduction of the Earned our students. This redistribu- I love Oklahoma. I low by using a biased metric known as the “quality-adjusted For more than a decade, Income Tax Credit. While tion of revenue from public the people, I love Oklahom: life year.” or QALY. for no reason other than corporations benefited from schools to private schools is football, but I dont love th: QALY cost-benefit analyses systemically undervalue politics, rural Oklahoma has a low minimum wage, Okla- an assault on our public edu- way our state treats peopl the lives of patients with disabilities, as a new National been ravaged not by a fail- homans making $50,000 a cation community and rural who dont have a lot of mon Council on Disability study makes clear. Yet some health- ing economy but by a failing year paid twice the amount communities that rely on the ey in the bank. The Hous: care research groups are urging the federal government, as. state government. Oklahoma in taxes as a percentage of viability of public schools. Democratic Caucus create well as private insurers, to adopt QALY assessments in the taxpayers have sent millions their income as those at the The Brand New State agenda this agenda because we an United States. of dollars in taxes to the fed- top. By calling for a higher is the first agenda to protect These blatantly discriminatory assessments have no tired of seeing people acros eral government, subsidizing minimum wage, restoring rural communities and pub- place in our health system. What exactly is a QALY? Simply put, it’s an attempt to health care in states like Cal- the EITC and providing state lic schools by calling for the state and entire com munities suffer while thos: ifornia and Massachusetts, retirees with a cost of living Oklahoma to lead the region quantify the value of a specific healthcare intervention -- a who have influence throug! new drug, a procedure, a prevention effort. If an interven- while hospitals throughout adjustment, the Brand New in funding for education. tion adds an additional year of perfect health to a patient's Oklahoma close their doors. State agenda puts money If there is a bright spot money flourish. It is time fo life, she gains one QALY. If the intervention adds one year By accepting the proven back in the pockets of Okla- our state government, a different approach. Its tim: Medicaid expansion that homas workers and retirees. it is that there is a willing- for a Brand New State. of less-than-perfect health to that patient’s life, she gains less than one QALY -- perhaps 0.3 QALYs, or 0.5. Any- has been adopted and imple- Unfortunately, the econ- ness by many Republicans To learn more, please visi one less than “perfect” is assumed to gain less value from mented successfully in 36 omy and health care are not to work with Democrats on www.brandnewstateok.com. treatment. Insurers and governments often use these crude mea- surements to determine if a new drug is worth covering. Insurers can reject medicines that don’t provide enough Historical impeachments QALYs relative to their price. By James Finck biggest opposition to Re- charged Johnson with eleven after, “I cannot agree to de- Patients with disabilities are at a disadvantage when it Watching the Senate hear- construction was the radical counts of impeachment. stroy the harmonious work- ings over the past weeks I wing of his own party. The The eleven articles are in- ing of the Constitution for comes to QALY analyses. That’s because the hidden as- am happy to see historical so-called Radical Republi- credibly repetitive. They all the sake of getting rid of ar sumption behind these analyses is that the lives of these arguments being made by cans wanted to punish the boil down to Johnson having Unacceptable President.” patients are presumed to be of lesser value than those with- both sides. As I have said, broken his oath of office by South and make it difficult What is interesting abou! out disabilities. the Constitution is purposely for their return. They wanted firing Stanton and by hiring today’s impeachment is Consider a person with a permanent disability who is vague, and it is no different to remove all past leaders Lorenzo Thomas without many will see similarities confined to a wheelchair, Researchers, using QALY analy- when it comes to impeach- and guarantee certain rights consent of Congress. They with Johnson’s trial anc ses, have decided that such patients’ health utility is just ment. There are three sec- for the new freedman popu- basically said it in different many will not. Supporters .5. Say a new treatment could extend this patient’s life by tions in the Constitution lation ways, like he violated Stan- of Trump will see two presi- four years. A QALY analysis would still determine that the that discuss impeachment, The Radicals were origi- ton’s rights in one and con- dents who disagreed with < treatment provides only 2 QALYs, since patients would but even with those sections nally excited about Johnson spired with Thomas against hostile Congress which sim- always need wheelchairs and will never be in “perfect” there are still many ques- as president. He said and did Stanton in another. In Article ply wanted the president re- health. tions. As with most Consti- all the right things. Howev- 10 Congress went as far as moved for political reasons tutional issues, the rest has er, when Congress left for re- including that he criticized By comparison, a drug of the same cost that extends been filled in with laws, the cess, he put in his own plans congress “with a loud voice, Others will disagree witk an able-bodied patient’s life by four years would provide courts, and especially prec- for Reconstruction that were certain intemperate, inflam- any similarities. More like four QALYs. Given that his patient provides more QALYs edent. Several times both just as lenient as Lincoln’s, matory, and scandalous ha- the Nixon scandal, they see from being treated, the drug would be considered more sides have referenced both maybe even more so. When rangues,” president who clearly over- cost-effective for insurers to cover than the drug for the the Andrew Johnson and Congress returned, they at- The trial lasted for three stepped his authority anc wheelchair-bound patient. William Clinton impeach- tempted to retake the power. months. The defense argued then tried to cover it up. The When drugs that primarily treat people with disabilities ment trials. In this vein, I They tried to pass laws to that Johnson had done noth- problem is this split hap- score worse than mass-market drugs -- not due to an actual think it is worth examin- help the ex-slaves but were ing wrong. They claimed pens to be along party lines difference in efficacy, but simply due to a biased methodol- ing the lesser known of the blocked by Johnson’s ve- he was challenging an un- which is very much like the two, the Johnson case, to see toes. The Radicals did have constitutional law and basi- Johnson impeachment. Witt ogy -- that’s discrimination. what we can learn from his- enough support to overturn cally his act did not meet the Johnson, Republicans had tc This is unacceptable. QALY assessments institutionalize tory and if there are similari- Johnson’s veto on the Four- demands of a High Crime. cross the party line to clear discrimination against people with disabilities and reduce him, whereas with Trumy ties between the two. teenth Amendment, which What seemed like a slam their access to medicines and other needed treatments. There is a great deal of gave freedmen citizenship, dunk win at first fell apart by they had to cross party lines Just look at the United Kingdom, where the government- detail to explain Johnson's but they faced an uphill bat- the end, From the beginning to convict. But either way run health system recently used a QALY analysis to deny election as V.P. Suffice to tle. It was at this point they of the trial, Johnson worked the vast majority of the Sen- coverage for a new cystic fibrosis drug heralded as a sig- say, the Republicans in 1864 began looking for reasons to with moderate Republicans ate in all three presidentia’ nificant breakthrough for that fatal disease. Government were concerned about Lin- impeach the president. They to save his position by prom- impeachments trials votec officials also rejected a breakthrough blood cancer therapy coln’s chances in the upcom- tried twice unsuccessfully ising not to interfere any along party lines instead oi last year for similar reasons. ing election. That may sound before they found a reason more with Reconstruction. voting their consciences The continued use of QALY analyses is a moral atroc- crazy, but he was not yet the that stuck. Also, the managers had a So, what we can learn from ity. Just because people are blind, or need a wheelchair, or super popular president that In 1867 Congress passed week case. It became appar- studying Johnson is that ir live with an incurable disease or genetic disorder, doesn’t he would become. Johnson the Tenure of Office Act, ent the entire reason for the the end what we see is tha! mean their lives are less valuable or they are less worthy was a pro-war Democrat which basically said that law was to remove the Presi- impeachments are politica of treatment. It’s time we ban the use of these unethical and Lincoln hoped that by the president could not fire dent. His only real crime was above everything else. bringing him on the ticket any member of his own disagreeing with Congress. For my Texas readers, ii assessments and treat disabled Americans with the dignity he could attract other pro- cabinet without congres- In the end, seven Repub- any of you are interestec they deserve. war Democrats. What made sional approval. This was licans voted to acquit. For I will be speaking at the Kenneth E. Thorpe is a professor of health policy at Em- Johnson an even more in- done for two reasons. First, some congressmen they Weatherford College In- ory University and chairman of the Partnership to Fight teresting choice was that Congress was afraid that were more concerned with terdisciplinary | Academic Chronic Disease. he was a pro-slave, state’s Johnson would start replac- the man who would replace Conference on Feb 27 at £ rights Democrat from Ten- ing Lincoln’s Republican Johnson, whom they saw PM. The conference is free Have something nessee. Johnson was brought Cabinet with a Democratic as even more difficult. For and open to the public. For in for votes only. Once in ‘one. Secondly, they hoped others, when it really came office, Lincoln did not use this would trip up Johnson down to it, they did not want more information, you car him and he by no means was and give them a reason to to remove the President call 817-598-6326. If you to share? meant to ever be president. impeach. The plan worked. The issue with Johnson’s Johnson, who had been based on a power struggle. It would create a dangerous attend, make sure you come by and say hello. impeachment revolves fighting with his Secretary precedent that they did not Dr. James Finck is an As: Send your letter around Reconstruction. of War Edwin Stanton over want and could hurt the bal- sociate Professor of His- Even before the end of the keeping troops in the South, ance of power. When they tory at the University of Sci- War, Lincoln was already finally grew frustrated and received their assurances ence and Arts of Oklahome to editor@ecdaily- discussing his plans for how to treat the South. He basi- fired him. Johnson did not think the Tenure of Office from Johnson, the Republi- and Chair of the Oklahome cans were more than happy Civil War Symposium. Fol: cally wanted to make it easy Act would hold up in court. to leave him in office un- low Historically Speaking news.com for the southern states to re- turn, including keeping their He was right. But before the courts examined the case, til the next year when they at wwwHistoricallyspeak- could replace him through ing.blog or Facebook at @ existing governments. His the House acted first and voting. One senator said iamesWfinck.