Latest / The Dave Allen Show / 03/07/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Lynne Fruth from Fruth Pharmacy

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03/07/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Lynne Fruth from Fruth Pharmacy · The Dave Allen Show

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Dave Allen again, there's gooday morning to you from the Parmar Store studio.
1:02
Welcome to the show. Big Ley, Biggley Wiggley Hotline three zero four
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three four five fifty eight fifty eight. Fruth Pharmacy Text three zero four nine
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from the Parmars store studio. If there's not a Parmar store near you now,
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there will be soon. Parmar welcomes you to the girls state basketball tournaments
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continuing today at the COMML snum and Convention Center. More on that a little
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bit later on Parbar of course, the official store of high school sports in
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West Virginia. And again, if there's not a Parmar store near you now,
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there will be soon. Days ticking away for the legislature, It's a
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sixty day session. Wraps up Saturday night at the Capitol Hoppy for what I
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presume would be the final time of the year. Will be live at the
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Capitol COVID up at ten six. I'll give you a preview of that a
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little bit later on in the show. Something a little different this morning.
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There has been for some time a lot of talk across the country about the
2:12
high cost of medical care in America, particularly when it comes to prescription medications.
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And I was provided some reading materials a couple of days ago by my
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guests on the show today, and quite frankly, it blew my mind what
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people are paying for medications and what insurances and ultimately you, the taxpayers,
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are paying for these prescriptions. Lynn Fruth is the president of Truth Pharmacy.
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Full disclosure. Fruth Pharmacy of course a sponsor to the show, but what
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we are about to review today is not exclusive to Fruth Pharmacy. Matter of
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fact, you could take the name Fruth out of it completely and replace it
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with any other name that you like, if you want, any other independent
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pharmacy in West Virginia. Lin, good morning, and welcome to the show.
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Yes, thank you for having us. We're really excited to with you
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what's going on in the state. And we also have Andy Becker with us.
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Andy, good morning, how are you welcome to the show. Good
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morning, Thanks for having us in here. This morning. All right,
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So guys, before we dive deep into this, give us either one of
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you, maybe Lane will start with you, give us the overall view of
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what is the main issue here. So there has been a lot of issues
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with the West Virginia Public Employees Plan for many years, and we as a
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pharmacy have come to the realization that the plan, which is actually the State
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of West Virginia and the employees in many ways have been grossly overcharged by the
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group that provides the insurance. In this case it's Express Scripts who manage the
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pharmacy benefits. And this is something that's gone on nationwide and gotten a lot
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of attention lately, but no one would ever believe what we were telling them
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about what was happening. So we actually got some days a patient brought in
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data to us directly from their insurance plan that showed just amazingly crazy things going
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on. The first one was that many of the pharmacies were being paid different
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amounts, and the patient was like, well, if I go to Fruit
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Pharmacy, my copays the same, but Fruit Pharmacy is being paid three hundred
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dollars, but CVS is being paid six hundred dollars. Why is that?
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And that's what we've pretty much seen across the board with the data that most
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of the independent pharmacies in West Virginia and Fruth is actually paid the worst by
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PEIA and that the large national chains have been paid the best. Now there's
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a reason for that, Dave, and that's because at the end of the
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year, those national chains have a national aggregate contract that squares all that up
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or trus it up, and they will pull that money back. The PBM
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express Scripts will pull that money back to them, but it's money they've taken
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out of West Virginia. So Andy, you are the what the what your
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title was as a vice president of pharmacy, all right, so you're you're
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kind of the hands on person in all this and I know and as Lynn
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has, but you see this on a daily basis, right, Yeah,
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So this is I mean, it's a this is really a problem that is
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nationwide. This isn't unique to West Virginia, but it is unique to finally
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have information that you can show people that they you cannot argue that any part
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of this should be allowed to happen with taxpayer funded dollars. So you have
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you have a vendor that's chosen by the state, that is charging ten times
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or one hundred times what a drug cost and paying itself when that could be
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done locally with a local employer and local vendor and save one hundred times the
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cost of that value. But it's not allowed to happen because contractually, that's
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the way it is when they set this up with the state. So we
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talked about you were provided with this information by a patient. How did they
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go about obtaining this information? Land? So a patient came to us because
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they had gone online to look for their medication and they saw why would I'm
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a fruit patient, I'm a fruit customer. Why would my pharmacy be getting
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paid so much less on a drug than CBS. And quite honestly, the
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two independent chains or the two independent pharmacies that are run by former and current
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legislators are also in the top tier payment from what we saw, and that
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opened up a lot of ethical questions. So there are drugs. There's a
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drug that she found that we would be paid thirteen hundred dollars for this drug
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cleand to ice and phosphate and Griffith and File just down the road from us,
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we'd be paid almost one thousand dollars more. That sounds like a big
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abuse of taxpayer funds. We understand that that they do the same thing with
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CVS and Walgreens, grossly overpay them on brand drugs and then probably try to
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claw the money back. So you're underpaying most all of your independent pharmacies across
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the state who have come in and testified multiple times. Every time we fill
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a brand medication for Peia, we lose over one hundred dollars on the cost
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of the drug, meaning that drug costs US three hundred dollars, we are
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dispensing it, the pharmacists, all of that, and we're getting paid less
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than two hundred dollars. So the pharmacies are saying we cannot continue to be
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in business and be underpaid. Last year we did an analysis and Fruit lost
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a half a million dollars by filling Peia, But that was just the beginning
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of it. Then that patient saw the drugs that were going out of state.
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These are all generic drugs. There are no rebates to them, and
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this is where the real abuse is taking place. What we're really fighting for,
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and that is overcharging patients on cancer and MS drugs and overcharging the state
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and Andy can walk you through a few of those drugs and what they're used
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for and see that it's it's just will blow your mind. I want to
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get into that here in just a couple of moments. And do not need
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hazardous materials and air quality vis A Pinnacle Corp. Dot net. Because what
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you don't know can hurt you, all right, andye, what are some
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of these drugs that we're talking about here? Well, so, so these
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are drugs that are that are deemed specialty drugs by by PBMs. And what
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is a specialty drug? Well, it's whatever. Now go back and explain
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again what a PBM is. So PBM is a pharmacy benefit manager, so
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that this is an intermediary that that assigns formula area and processes claims on the
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behalf of employers and plan sponsors. You know. So you you go to
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the pharmasee with your card in your hand and the company on that card that
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these are the entities we're talking about. So you've got situations here where they
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are they are forcing these to be filled at facilities that they own that the
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PBM owns. So the chosen vendor owns this facility out of state. You
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you all, all of these require a pri authorization to get these drugs,
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right, So you go to the physician. You have, for instance,
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a specific type of cancer, and your doctor decides, hey, the best
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course of therapy for you is going to be this drug. And when they
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do the pri authorization and get authorization for that from from the PBM, they
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say, well, okay, this is approved. You need to send this
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to a credo. Well, a credo is the company they own, so
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when they fill this medication. Here's an example. This drug is for a
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treatment of cancer. It's called temozolamide. The PEA member can pay up to
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two hundred and fifty dollars for this drug for me to fill this drug in
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a fruit store in West Virginia or Kentucky Medicaid. Fruth is going to get
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paid a total of about nine hundred dollars. And to be transparent, Fruth
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makes ten dollars on that ten dollars and forty nine cents. PIA is paying
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express Cripts thirteen thousand dollars for this drug. I mean, there's no way
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you can look at this and say, well, that's okay. There's many
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other medications where like, for example, here's one that that's also for leukemia,
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where the patient pays can pay up to two hundred and fifty dollars.
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The state is paying five thousand dollars. West Virginia Medicaid will pay me one
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hundred and forty seven dollars for this drug. Well, if West Virginia Medicaid
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pays me one hundred and forty seven dollars total, why is why is the
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PEI member happening having to pay two hundred fifty dollars? And I think,
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guys to interrupt here, and I think this is what it all goes back
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to, is that ultimately, what you are saying in our conversations when you
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reached out to me the other day, what we're trying to get across is
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is that ultimately, who loses in this is not proof pharmacy. It's not
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who lose in the or any other independent Who loses in this is the is
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the patient, the patient, and the tax and the tax payer. Yeah
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that's right, Yeah, Dave. When we saw this, we you know,
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engaged all the government folks and we actually met. I've never had the
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opportunity to meet with Governor Justice. I have met with his chief of staff
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and team on different occasions, and quite honestly, their lack of empathy about
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the situation just really kind of stunned me, because I said to Brian Abraham,
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the chief of staff, Like Brian, there are bus drivers and cooks
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who might have cancer who are looking at a two hundred and fifty dollars copay,
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and some of them are deciding between getting their medicine and paying their utilities
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or getting their groceries. And the comment was, well, eventually they'll meet
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their out of pocket and I said, that's not the point. The point
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is this is wrong. If we can sell a drug for one hundred and
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fifty dollars and make money and have it be a fair price, why would
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the state pay five thousand dollars even one time. So I know we maybe
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the politicians get to a point where they're so far removed from every man that
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they don't stop to say, what would it be like to have a child
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with cancer and not have the two hundred and fifty dollars copay that you need
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for that medication. That's happening in our state, and there's absolutely no reason
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for it, because some of these drugs could be sold at forty dollars.
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So we are fighting for the patients because people walk in our pharmacies every day
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in every location worried about how am I going to pay for my medicine?
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And medicines do cost a lot, but there's no excuse, absolutely no excuse
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for the state to allow this PBM to pay itself five thousand dollars for a
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fifty dollars drug, not even one time, not even one time. It's
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nine twenty one. We're going to take a break. I want to continue
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this conversation because I want to get into a little bit of the legislative aspect
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of what what you folks have tried to do. And you feel like that
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you're being stonewalled a little bit on this, and I'm going to get into
14:26
that and when we come back. The Dave Alan Show on five any Live
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in Morgantown and Charleston nine twenty four of the Dave Island Show. In five
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Husband'spizza dot Com delivery, pickup or dine in. We are talking with some
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folks today. We had to lend the fruit from Fruit Pharmacy and Andy Becker
17:00
here as well. We're talking about the high cost of prescription drugs and some
17:07
very big questions as it relates to pei A and things that nature. I
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do have a text question here for you, oddly enough from the Fruit Pharmacy
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text line, and see if he the oneer you could answer this. This
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says, can the employer bypass going through their insurance, and what would that
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charge be? Can is that something? I'm sorry, employee, employee,
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I'm sorry, employee. Okay, So I will share a story and I
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the problem with most employees is they do not know how much the drug is
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going to cost until it goes to mail order and comes back. If they
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bring that prescription into a fruit, then we get a rejection notice on our
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system that says this prescription must be filled at or cannot be filled at retail.
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The problem is it's hard for the pharmacists to know what they're going to
17:56
be charged at mail order, so it isn't until a patient comes to us
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and this does happen. Dave, I had a patient come to us and
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say, PIA will no longer cover this very vital medication that I need.
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I cannot change. My health situation is so tenuous. I will not change.
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What can I do? I said, well, sometimes you just have
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to pay cash. So the person said, let me let me talk to
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Andy, and I said, Andy will find you the cheapest amount we can
18:26
purchase the drug for and that was three hundred dollars. And that individual decided
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they were going to pay the three hundred dollars to keep their health in a
18:37
stable place. Six months later, when we were at the Capitol talking to
18:41
senators and different people, I happened to learn that from that individual, Oh,
18:48
PIA now covers my drug. I said, that's great. And the
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person said, well, guess what the copay is And I said what three
18:59
hundred And the person said, no, PEIA will cover that drug. My
19:03
copay is one thousand dollars. So anytime a patient is paying a copay that
19:12
far exceeds the cost of the drug, that is money that is being stolen
19:18
from the patient and sent out of state to the PBM. So I would
19:25
encourage patients on PIA who have expensive drugs and expensive copays to go to their
19:30
local pharmacy and say, can you tell me what the cash price is?
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But here's the problem a cash price, if you buy it for cash,
19:38
none of that goes towards you're deductible. None of that goes towrd youre out
19:42
of pocket, so you are essentially paying for that over here. So that
19:48
doesn't fix the problem. The problem is let those prescriptions be filled locally and
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make them be charged at a fair rate. You were talking with Lynd Fruth
19:59
and Becker about this situation that in these questions that have have arisen as as
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it comes to the high cost of prescription drugs and what's being you know what,
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people on Pei particularly are being charged here. All right, So you
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have you've approached folks in the government. You mentioned you met with the well
20:15
you does not meet the governor directly. You did meet with the governor staff.
20:18
Talk about the legislative aspect of this. How I saw I just flake
20:23
in through the channels and saw you on TV at the Capitol I think a
20:26
couple of nights ago. So so what has been your response? How far
20:30
have you gotten along with me say this in your discussions with the legislature.
20:33
So I will say that the Senate was very supportive. We met with Senator
20:38
Amy Grady and Senator Blair, the President. We got a lot of support
20:44
from the Senate side. Senator Grady's a school teacher. She got on her
20:49
own sign in on her own insurance and validated that all of the information that
20:56
we gave and that we've shared with people was in fact true. So we've
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gotten a lot of support from the Senate side. Later, we were able
21:04
to meet with Speaker Handshaw and doctor Rarbaw. They were totally outraged. You
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know, the comment in that room that day was this stops today. And
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then yet at the eleventh hour we find that the House is trying to bury
21:19
it in committee. And I understand politics is very complicated, but if there
21:25
was ever a time to do the right thing for the people who work for
21:30
the state of West Virginia. I'm a former teacher. I worked with cooks
21:33
and custodians and aids, and in my first job, I made sixteen thousand
21:37
dollars a two hundred and fifty dollars copay. It doesn't matter what the premium
21:42
is. If your copay is so expensive you can't afford the drug. So
21:47
we're really encouraging the House to get on board with this, and the governor
21:52
needs to step up and bring this into law because ultimately it should save money
21:56
and keep the peia premium from going up because of all the money that's being
22:02
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All right, let's talk about the particular legislation. It's HB what a Senate
22:27
Senate bill for bill? I'm sorry SB four five three? Okay? Four
22:32
or five three? It's be four to five three? So where is it
22:34
now? Andy? It is now? It is? So it was stuck
22:38
in the House Finance Committee for ten or eleven days before it finally got out
22:45
of there, and they amended the bill that with that amendment they did,
22:51
it's likely it could kill that bill on the floor when it comes to them,
22:55
and we're up against it as far as the clock goes here, I
22:56
think that's right. So forty eight hours, they're doing the second reading today
23:00
and then they'll do a third reading and have a vote before session ends.
23:03
But the amendment that they did, so it and we don't know what's going
23:08
on behind the scenes and who's doing what and why and what their motivations are.
23:12
But apparently somebody wasn't getting something they wanted, and it decided to sit
23:15
on this bill and the Finance Committee and not let it out of the committee
23:18
until they got enough pressure that they did, but at the last minute they
23:23
amended it to remove some language. The language they removed is going to create
23:29
a cost to the bill. This was revenue neutral. It would cost a
23:32
state and nothing to do this, and now it looks like it will.
23:37
So it's possibility that it could die in the state that it's in. There's
23:41
all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to try to force that to
23:45
happen, but we just don't know. So that's where sitting what is going
23:48
on behind the scenes. So, Dave, I think the key thing here
23:52
is there's that bill requires at this point right now, the state does not
23:59
have have access to seeing their own data. The state who is paying over
24:03
three hundred million dollars in prescriptions costs back up here, the state does not
24:08
have access to their own data. That's correct correct by contract. It is
24:12
proprietary, confidential, and exemptanm FOIA in its current state, and that's in
24:18
code. And so what's happened is for these past five years, when we've
24:22
been saying the state is being overcharged. The state is being overcharged. The
24:27
state did not have the ability to get the data at a transactional level with
24:34
the drug name and so forth, to be able to see what they were
24:38
being charged, or if they could get data, they could not share that
24:42
with anyone. So you couldn't give that too to an entity or even the
24:48
audit. Yeah, from what we understand, even the state auditor couldn't get
24:51
it. So it's like you can't give that information to an expert, to
24:53
auditi and show you what's happening. I mean, it sounds to me a
24:57
total and all. This is totally new to me, but it sounds to
25:00
me like there needs to be a change in state code and that's not going
25:03
to happen in the next forty eight hours. No, that is in this
25:07
bill. Is it is in the bill. The bill. When a study
25:11
was undertaken in the fall, Peia was asked for thirty some data fields by
25:18
this group that was going to do the analysis, and they were only willing
25:22
to provide six or seven data fields and so, and that was aggregated data,
25:29
so it was just all lumped together. It wasn't broken out in individual
25:32
transactions. So Basically, you're allowing the person who's overcharging you to then be
25:40
the person who audits you and says, oh, yeah, everything's fine.
25:44
Well that seems fair. But when this information came to us from a patient,
25:49
it was like the black box had been opened. It's like, oh
25:52
my gosh, now you can see what's being done. The ninety percent of
25:56
the prescriptions being filled for Peia are filled in West Virginia by West Virginia pharmacies
26:02
and chains, who we all have a great relationship with. That represents fifty
26:07
eight percent of the cost of Peia. There's two and a half percent of
26:11
the prescriptions. Two and a half go out of state to Indiana and Delaware.
26:18
That's where Express Scripts has their mail order facilities, and that's where we're
26:23
paying five thousand dollars for a fifty dollars drug. That represents over one hundred
26:29
million dollars going out of state and it's thirty percent of the spend. So
26:34
it's easy to see. You know, why do people rob banks? That's
26:38
where the money is, I say, follow the money. So having access
26:44
to the data, being able to do a transparent, full deep dive would
26:49
and cure all this and public published it so the public can read it.
26:53
But here's what I think. You're asked me what I think Why do people
26:56
not want this? I think there are people who would rather keep doing the
27:00
same thing and waste money, then admit that we might not have had a
27:07
good deal and fix it. And for us fighting for these last five years,
27:11
I'm like, hey, if we've got a bad deal, let's fix
27:15
it. Let's save twenty million dollars, forty million dollars. Maybe you won't
27:18
have to raise premiums at all, and you can help Peia, but you
27:23
have to be willing to say, we've got to look at it fairly.
27:29
Okay, Okay, so Gas. So what happens this bill is, again,
27:33
we're forty eight hours away, actually a little bit more than forty eight
27:37
hours away from the end of the session. What happens if this continues to
27:42
pretty much lay dormant. What happens is and the ultimately I'm not talking about
27:47
what happens on Sunday, but I'm talking about in the big picture, what
27:49
happened. The big picture is you continue to get what you always got.
27:56
The taxpayers are being ripped off, and the patients are paying more than they
28:00
should and their premiums will go up. And this bill also forces the state
28:06
to choose a transparent vendor when this contract ends, and it defines what a
28:10
transparent vendor is and defines how they operate. So these things that we're talking
28:15
about here can't happen when they choose their next PBM vendor, Right, Dave,
28:21
So, West Virginia Medicaid moved to a model like this several years back.
28:25
They were actually very innovative. And when West Virginia Medicaid moved from a
28:30
traditional PBM, and by that I mean someone like Express Scripts, care Mark
28:36
or Optum, they saved over fifty million dollars. This past week, Kentucky
28:45
Governor Bisure spoke on at the White House and said Kentucky saved three hundred million
28:55
by going to a transparent PBM. This is the only way to fix pei.
29:00
You have to get rid of the middleman who is making more money than
29:04
the pharmacies, the drug manufacturers, or anybody else. But you have to
29:10
look at it with a fresh set of eyes and be willing to hear maybe
29:14
something you don't want to hear, because nobody wants to find out they're paying
29:18
twelve thousand dollars for a medicine that costs nine hundred dollars. So our listeners
29:23
today, guys, what's the call to action for them? Well, the
29:26
call to action is, you know, as a former teacher, I'm very
29:30
sensitive to the staffing and the school situations and what everybody's been through these past
29:37
number of years. Every school teacher, every public employee, every person who's
29:42
been impacted by PEIA needs to call the governor and say we want Senate Bill
29:48
four fifty three to pass. We want transparency in our insurance plan. They
29:53
need to really reach out to the House to make sure this bill gets passed
29:57
in the House. Call your local delegate, tell them, hey, we
30:02
need this because we cannot continue to see these type of increases not just in
30:07
our premiums, but also in our copase. So it's we need a yes
30:11
vote on Senate Bill four point fifty three, and we need to hold everybody
30:17
accountable to finding out what the truth is and fixing it. Well, guys,
30:21
I appreciate you being here today because obviously this all started when I got
30:26
a phone call and even though Fruth Pharmacy again sponsors our tex signed, Lenn
30:30
and I had never met until a couple of days ago, and then well,
30:33
actually we just met for the first time in the green room. So
30:37
it's obviously something that you feel, you guys both feel very passionate about because
30:41
you know, obviously, in addition to being a business person, as you
30:45
are the President of Truth Pharmacy, you're also people go into these sorts of
30:48
fields, whether it's pharmacy or whatever, they go into it because it's calling,
30:52
because they want to help people. And it sounds to me that's that's
30:55
what you're trying to do. It is it is, ultimately, I mean,
30:59
that's that's really what it's all about. But you know, it takes
31:03
public action to force politicians to do things. That's just the way it is.
31:07
All right, guys, I appreciate you being here. Best of luck
31:10
in this fight because again we're up against its SB four p. Fifty three,
31:15
and we are. There's going to be some special sessions held later on
31:18
this year, but this the regular session end Saturday night at midnight, and
31:22
I'm confident that they'll get it done because in the end, all we're asking
31:27
is for the governor and everybody who serves in the legislature to do what's right.
31:33
There's nothing wrong about this bill. One hundred percent of it is about
31:37
doing what's right for the people West Virginia, both the tax payers and the
31:41
patients. It's time to do what's right. I guess we'll leave it there.
31:45
I appreciate you being here twenty one minutes away from ten Dave Allen showing
31:48
five any Life presenting apart by Brightway Insurance Amaze Agency of Days Valley. They're
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expertise from real local agents, real that is not not an eight hundred number.
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Call them locally three zero four eight one four two five zero nine.
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Talk to Johnny Sherry May today three zero four eight one four two five zero
32:12
nine. We're back after this. So the Voice to Charleston WCCHS brought to
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you by the Eric Jtar Family Businesses. Eric J. Tar Family Businesses bring
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first class businesses to your community. Legislators have four hundred million reasons not to
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and sign up for the Parmar Rewards Card too. West Virginia, Kentucky,
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Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. If there's not a par Mar
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store near you now, there will be set eighteen away from ten Bigley Wigglely
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Hotline three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight Fruit Pharmacy Text three
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zero four nine to three five five zero zero eight. West Virginia Enrich in
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collaboration with Huntington, invites you to witness the transformative power of Special Olympics.
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Take a few minutes to be inspired and to join the collective effort in making
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a video highlighting the Special Olympics at Facebook dot com Slash five eighty wcchs so
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Dave Allan showing five eighty Live is brought to you in part by General Hardware
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of Winfield and Milton and General Lumber of Winfield. Whether you're getting your home
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Lumber. Visit General Hardware WV dot com. Bigley Pigley Wiggley Hotline three zero
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four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. Fruth Pharmacy text three zero four
35:35
nine three five five zero zero eight saying, man, we have a lot
35:38
of texts to get to Ryan. Just tell Hoppy that he's not going on
35:42
today, because I got nothing but text to get to tex says, I
35:45
know Lynn well, she's tremendously smart as a business person, and thank her
35:51
for standing up for the situation. I deal at fruit and another local pharmacy,
35:54
says a Texter. Texas says a governor's coaching at state high school's best
36:00
goodball tournament. Don't know he has time to deal with things like Senate Bill
36:02
four fifty three ridiculously said, Well, he's not coaching there now because,
36:06
unfortunately for him, his team Greenberg East got ousted from the tournament a couple
36:10
of days ago. Texas sounds like healthcare shouldn't be a commodity but instead should
36:19
be a universal human right. At least President Biden has capped certain drug costs
36:22
for Medicare and authorized Medicare to negotiate drug prices down. Why don't Republicans want
36:28
to help Texas ethical questions? Ask her about the illegal electronic sign on our
36:35
store in Scott Depot that she refuses to move. Okay, that's a different
36:37
subject for a different time. Tex says, want to know why things don't
36:42
change. Look no further than who the PBM lobbyist are. You'll see some
36:46
familiar names, says a texture Texas. Dave, I have known Lynn for
36:52
over thirty five years. She's not only truthful, but tenacious. Go get
36:55
them, Lynn, says A Texter. Texays, you're telling me that the
37:07
large national pharmacy chains get a better deal than local, smaller pharmacies. I'm
37:10
sure that's how it's set up. Has nothing to do with large chains and
37:15
their lobbyists. As a Texter, Texas, it's kind of funny your guests
37:19
were surprised that the richest man in West Virginia has zero empathy for poor people
37:22
not being able to afford necessary medication. But you know, let's continue with
37:27
tax cuts for the wealthy, Texas. The interview so far highlighted how capitalism
37:31
and medicine aren't the best partners, Dave, your radio bosses may get upset
37:37
at the socialists adjacent to interview, says a Texter. Texas says, Republicans
37:42
want to destroyed the public education system. Making healthcare unaffordable is one way to
37:45
get employees to leave and make make the job unattractive to prospective new employees.
37:57
Tex says, how does China producing all of our drugs affect these and plans?
38:04
Okay, that's got that one Texas no respect to the Dave Allen Show
38:09
on five eighty Live. But how in the world is this not made talk
38:13
line? Well, uh, I haven't. And by the way, if
38:16
if, if, Hoppy and the crew are listening up the Capitol, just
38:21
so you know, Hoppy is going to be at the Capitol as he is
38:22
at coming up a ten oh six, just so you know she's on her
38:28
way there. Lena and Andy are on their way there, Hoppy, So
38:31
you have been warned that when they left here they said, now we're going
38:36
to the Capitol. So it may be. It may be on the show.
38:39
It wasn't on the schedule, but I've learned in listening to Hoppy does
38:44
a great job to capital. Uh during the session that he sends us all
38:49
out and we kind of exchange who our guests are for the day. But
38:51
it's very it's very, very fluid at the Capitol. It really is,
38:54
just because of you know, it's kind of a work in progress kind of
38:59
a thing. The Dave Showing five venue Live is brought to you part by
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39:08
All Right, it is Day three of the girls State basketball Tournament and action
39:12
is underway now at the Kittle Seaman Convince the Center. Daytime games available in
39:15
Charleston's ESPN Radio one of six point seven FM fourteen ninety AM, with the
39:20
evening sessions on the WCCHS network. Of course, you can fool all the
39:23
action at wv metronews dot com. And I got to give a shout out
39:29
to my alma mater, the Logan Wildcat boys basketball team, who down Ripley
39:35
last night to advance to the boys State Tournament next week at the Kittle sam
39:37
If you're keeping totals at home, be a bit of a homeboy here.
39:42
That's sixty three sectional titles, thirty four regional championships, six state championship runner
39:49
ups, and seven state championships. I'm a little bit proud of my of
39:52
my alma mater. In fact, I was looking at there's two of the
39:55
three high schools in my native Logan County, and I have lived there in
40:00
a while, but still my home Logan and Chatmanville Regional, both in the
40:02
boys State Tournament this week, so again round of my home count phone calls
40:08
to the Dave Island Show service a Big Lee Pickley Wiggily. When shopping at
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your Big Lee Pickley Wiggily, be sure to join their loyalty program. You
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can say big at the gas pumps and throughout the store with their electronic coupons
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and free gifts on Fridays just for stopping by. From farm to table,
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Big Lee Pickley Wiggily, the best kept secret in Charleston. Textian services are
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provided by Fruit Pharmacy, your hometown family Pharmacy. Well, if you need
40:28
something to do after work this evening, you may want to join our sister
40:30
station nine eighty seven A Mountain Wild Wonderful classic rock starting. That's six at
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Bar one on one Capitol Street in Charleston and Charleston. Excuse me, see
40:37
I got all choked up talking about it. We are there on the first
40:40
and third Thursdays of the month. Steve Animals Shockley will be there. I
40:44
may make an appearance as well. Plenty of Mountain swag to give away,
40:46
including those all new limited editions Steve Animal T shirts and the Bar one on
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one special It's a cheeseburger Fries and a draft beer only fifteen dollars bar one
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on one at six Capitol Street with their sister station nine eighty seven a month
40:59
and now I'm min Then Hoppy is back at the Capitol in the AARP broadcast
41:04
location. And this will be the final time I guess the session. It's
41:07
coming up a ten oh six, Brad. We'll update this on what's going
41:09
on with the legislature now that we are in the final forty eight hours of
41:13
the session. Hobby will spend some time talking about the vaccine bill. John
41:16
Decker is on with a preview of the State of the Union speech from President
41:20
Biden tonight. It's Hoppy and talk line coming up a ten oh six from
41:25
the state Capital. There was a shooting last night in the rand area.
41:30
Story post at wv metronews dot com. Allowed argument apparently ended in some gunfire
41:37
with the suspect and the shooting take it into custody while driving on sixty four
41:40
in Cabull County. Again a complete story and that posted at wvmetronews dot com.
41:46
We're gonna take a break. We'll be back right after this. From
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the Parmar Store Studios on the Voice of Charleston Wcchs brought to you by the
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taxing our families too much. Let's vote for a Republican that will fight for
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43:14
taxes for all our families. Dwayne Duncan wants more jobs, lower taxes,
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and safer communities. Dwayne Duncan is a job creator and believes you should keep
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more of your hard earned money. Let's vote for lower taxes and more jobs.
43:25
Let's vote for Republican Dwayne Duncan for Kannall County Commission. Paid for by
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Duwayne Duncan for County Commission. Tory Thokubo, Treasurer. West Virginia is suffering
43:35
from a shortage of qualified teachers, school service personnel, and state troopers.
43:38
We're losing these employees to other states who offer better pay and benefits. By
43:44
passing House Bill four eight eighty three, we can recruit and retain high quality
43:49
teachers, school service personnel, and state troopers. Tell your legislators to invest
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in West Virginia's future by supporting the professionals who support us. Tell them to
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pass the pay bill today paid for by the West Virginia a fl CIO nine
44:27
fifty one. You want another way to enjoy your favorite metro news programs like
44:30
talk Line, Sports Line, three, Guys Before the Game, and more.
44:32
Now, instead of just listening, you could watch the Voice of West
44:36
Virginia. Check out the new WV Metro News TV app. Simply download it
44:39
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and more. Download the Metro News TV app to enjoy all your favorite
44:46
metro news personalities from Tony Careedi to hopykirch Wal and more. Metro news for
44:51
your ears and now for your eyes too. The free Metro News TV app
44:54
at WV metronews dot com. Text us question for the Homer, how many
44:59
of those regional sectional state run robs and state titles did Logan win with only
45:04
LA players? All of them, all of them because we moved them there,
45:08
so all of them the governor, speaking yesterday during his media briefing,
45:13
continuing to say what a lot of people believe as well, and that is
45:16
that the state Transportation Director, Jimmy Riston was set up in that traffic stop
45:21
a couple of weeks ago in Charleston. Now it all went down. You'll
45:23
recall the night of February twentieth, a caller to Metro nine to one oneted
45:28
seeing a vehicle driving erradically. Charleston police responded and pulled over a vehicle on
45:34
seventy seven being driven by mister Riston. W COCHS Television no relation is reporting
45:40
that the call was made by the chief of police from the town of Glasgow,
45:45
Derrick Cox. They are reporting that and he was the one that made
45:47
the nine to one one call. Police did detect alcohol on mister Riston's breath,
45:52
but he did pass the field sobriety test. Now, the nine to
45:58
one one call and all that goes, everything goes with it, as what
46:01
we understand, been turned over to the Canaw County Prosecutor's office and charges could
46:07
be filed against the people that made the call. Possibly the investigation is continue.
46:13
The governor, as I said, said the Transportation chief was the victim
46:17
of a setup. That's what the governor was saying, yea aestually, although
46:22
no one seemed to know exactly why mister Riston was set up if he indeed
46:28
was No word yet on whether or not there will be disciplinary action taking against
46:31
Jimy Risden for allegedly operating the state vehicle after having consumed alcohol, which is,
46:37
in my opinion, a major offense. The rules that, as I
46:42
said before, that we followed during my time in state government, said,
46:44
if you operate a state vehicle after having been drinking, and it doesn't matter
46:49
what you blow, it doesn't matter whether you're drunk or not. After one
46:52
beer, one glass of wine, you're in major violation of the rules,
46:57
whether you're set up or not. So we'll say about that. The day
47:00
Islands showing five any line broad to you apartment by Live Healthy West Virginia,
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your journey towards better health today, Texas. As I've seen in my nearly
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forty years in America, Democrats want citizens as constituents and Republicans want citizens as
47:36
employees. If we elect people to run government like a business, that is
47:40
what we get, says a texture. So many bills to talk about of
47:45
a legislature, from pay raises on down and again. Bradon Hopey will get
47:50
into more of that at ten oh six. But one I was kind of
47:52
following, maybe it's because the whole city has basketball fever right now with the
47:55
girls state tournament going on to the boys next week, is the travel ball
48:00
bill. It is dead. The clock is run out at the end of
48:05
the fourth quarter and there's no overtime. It has died because the House Education
48:08
Committee failed to take it up. Jeff Jenkins with the story post to wv
48:13
metronews dot com. The chairman of the committee, Joe Ellington of Mercer County,
48:16
said simply, there weren't enough votes to bring it on the AJETA.
48:20
Now, the bill would have done away with current rules that prohibit school athletes
48:27
from playing on a travel ball team in the same sport at the same time
48:30
as their school season. So, in other words, an example, if
48:35
your kid plays high school basketball at PoCA, for example, they would not
48:38
be allowed to play on a travel ball team during the basketball season. Now,
48:44
the SSAC and the State School Athletic Coach Association, among others, strongly
48:50
came out against the bill. It came down and for many the Republicans.
48:58
Some on the Republicans are pushing this because they said that it came down to
49:00
freedom for the parents. But apparently it is not going to see the light
49:05
of day. Tex says Republicans, favoring big farmer overworking people as the tale
49:08
as old as time. In two thousand and seven, sent a Republicans block
49:12
proposed legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and make them cheaper. They
49:15
tried again in twenty twenty four, with every Congressional Republican voting against it.
49:20
President Biden and Democrats got the job done, and Medicare can negotiate drug prices
49:24
that make costs lower. Ask a Republican how they'll help you, and it's
49:29
always a tax cut for big business. Texas Day. Make sure you have
49:35
your State of the Union bingo card for tonight. Should have a bingo winner
49:37
within the first hour. And then the Texter sent me a bingo card here
49:44
with things like Joe whispers the term folks, Joe almost falls down, Joe
49:49
calls someone the wrong name, Joe stares with mouth open. Joe's wife and
49:54
Kamala's husband make out that one's interesting. January sixth, here's the deal.
50:00
Come on, man, not a joke. Maga. Joe blames a failure
50:04
on putin. Joe falls down. That was on there twice, malarkey.
50:07
Joe says something creepy about a female. Joe promises free stuff, et cetera,
50:14
et cetera, say the union. It's night, all right, Going
50:16
back to the governor, I'm gonna close this. Going back to the governor
50:19
for a moment. He's weighing in on this controversy from MSNBC's Jensaki Joy reader
50:24
Rachel Maddow. They were covering Super Tuesday and Jensaki is a former White House
50:30
Precatory Press Secretary was talking about Virginia voters saying that immigration was the number one
50:36
priority. They were talking to exit polls and they said that immigration was the
50:38
number one priority the Virginia voters did. And then Jensaki was kind of laughing
50:45
about that, you know, saying, I live in Virginia, and I
50:46
guess you just didn't understand why it's such a big issue there. Rachel Maddow
50:51
then said, quote, well, West Virginia does have a border. I'm
50:54
sorry, I've totally screwed that up. Virginia has a border with West Virginia
51:00
in quote. So in other words, Virginia voters should be concerned because they
51:02
border West Virginia. And someone else then talked about building a wall between Virginia
51:08
and West Virginia. Senator Shelley Moore Capito on this show yesterday mentioned that the
51:14
governor said, quote what an incredibly insulting statement about the hard working, good
51:19
people of West Virginia by liberal elites in quote. And you know, it's
51:23
just more of the same. Again, this all goes back to Donald Trump,
51:27
a man of which I'm not a fan of. However, what I
51:30
am a fan of is my home state. We have issues here, but
51:35
I love it here. I've had many opportunities to go other places, but
51:39
I choose to be here. And when we talk about decisive decisiveness in this
51:44
country, and we want to place all the blame sometimes on conservatives, but
51:50
then we hear statements like this from this MSNBC trio of hosts that lead to
51:54
it. Then you know, as as my grandmother used to say, matt
52:00
ol sake and reed, if you can't say anything nice about somebody, then
52:05
by all means shut the hell up. All right, we gotta go.
52:07
Thank you to Ryan Nicholson for producing the show. Great job. As always
52:12
hoppy coming up to the capitol of ten oh six. I'll be back tomorrow.
52:15
Had a gardener from the Canal charlest UMaine Association with this week's Adopt Me
52:17
Please Pet of the Week. It's opening night tomorrow night for the West Virginia
52:21
Grind basketball team, and we're gonna have more a little fun on tomorrow night,
52:23
saying all what's pub crawl? I will see you tomorrow morning till then
52:28
have fun and love somebody. At six point Leston one O four point five
52:47
Cross Lanes, WVRC Media Station, we are proud to live here too.