The Bernie Buzz

Last week, in a Bernie Buzz, I asked Vermonters to share with me their experiences with the outrageously high prices they pay for asthma inhalers. We were flooded with responses from all over the state. They are worth reading because they describe, in sad detail, one of the major failures of our corporate-dominated health care system. As Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I am determined to do all that I can to lower prescription drug prices in America.

That is why this week, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), I launched an investigation into the four biggest manufacturers of inhalers sold in the U.S. — AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Teva. They must be held accountable for charging the American people inhaler prices that are often 10 to 20 times higher than what they charge in other countries.

his weekend, at the Vermont State House, I hosted with my colleagues Senator Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint the annual reception to honor Vermont students who applied and received nominations to attend the United States Service Academies.

With winter upon us, I know many Vermonters across our state are worried about keeping their families and themselves safe and warm through this season. The good news is that assistance is available to help eligible Vermonters, not only afford their heating bills, but light and weatherize their homes, secure furnace and fuel tank repairs and replacements, and help pay for fuel and utilities.

A few years ago, I secured federal funding to initiate a new program here in Vermont that takes a different approach to criminal justice. The goal of this program, done in collaboration between Community College of Vermont and the Department of Corrections, is to provide educational and job training opportunities to people while they are serving their sentences so that, when they leave prison, they have the opportunity to get decent jobs and become productive members of society. This will provide new opportunities for inmates and, if successful, will save substantial sums of money for taxpayers.

In Vermont and across America today, we have a type-2 diabetes epidemic and we have an obesity epidemic. They are directly related and both epidemics are getting worse. Let’s be clear. This epidemic is not only endangering the health and wellbeing of thousands of Vermonters and tens of millions of Americans, it is also enormously expensive.