Political Panel: Affordable healthcare and COVID-19 – KX NEWS

NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) According to the CDC, COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the illness, and, in some areas COVID vaccines are required for employees, working for large businesses.

So, should the government be able to mandate said vaccines? This question for our major political parties, starts a fire.

Theres certainly people who disagree with me, and I respect that, thats fine. But its such a farce this whole thing that, and you know, what baffles me a little bit is, the Democrats used to be the party that complained about the big corporations. And I think weve been had by the big pharmaceutical companies, its a revolving door between the pharmaceuticals and the FDA and the CDC. I wish I had a product that I could get the government to force people or convince people to take thats invisible and create as much fear as they have, said Minot Senator, Jeff Hoverson.

Senator Hoverson says reports show that vaccines do more harm than good.

Just take the Veritas report, for example, which is underreported, by the way, 35,000 deaths, in one year from the COVID vaccine, said Sen. Hoverson.

As for our states Democratic party, they believe corporations should have the freedom to decide whether they require vaccines for their workers or if they dont.

We have found that many healthcare organizations like hospitals and long-term care organizations have found that its important to ensure that their employees are safe themselves and also not spreading the virus to the patients that they might be treating, said Fargo Senator, Karla Rose Hanson.

But, what about children, do they think the government should require that children be vaccinated against COVID-19?

Absolutely not, and, you know, I think people need to know as well that in 1986, our government cant remember what its called now. But theres an act of Congress that removes liability for pharmaceuticals, so vaccines are the only drug so to speak, that you cant sue the manufacturer for all the other drugs. And if they ever do get a court case, and a pharmaceutical does lose. Guess who pays for it? The taxpayer. So I dont know where anybody could find any ounce of freedom in that, said Sen. Hoverson.

Fargo Senator Josh Boschee responded by stating that, here in North Dakota, there is no mandate for COVID or any other vaccines.

We actually have the most, its been said by the medical profession, liberal policy, because families are able to opt out for a variety of reasons more than the reasons in many other states. So I think it should be a family decision, I think in consultation with their health care provider on whether children are vaccinated, said Sen. Boschee.

But you have to be able to make a decision on something thats not a fabrication. So thats why I dont think its fair to compare the COVID vaccine today to the polio vaccine back then, because I think when they actually did vaccines, they actually really did do what was in the best interest of the people. Thats not the case anymore, and we got to quit believing that it is. In my opinion, because theyre not, they dont have the person in mind informed consent is not there. And theres adverse incentive, said Sen. Hoverson.

Now lets shift a bit, we asked the panel, how they propose to address the rising healthcare costs, including the cost of prescription medications.

Well, we did have a bill that actually did control the price of insulin for state workers at least. And so these pharmaceutical companies are out of line, in my view, on many of their costs, because they, as was said earlier, they have no liability when someone gets sick from their product, but yet they are charging a huge amount of money for I mean, its crazy what theyre charging for some of these pills that people are taking or some of the shots, said Hazelton Senator Jeff Magrum.

State Senator Karla Rose Hanson says the cost of health care is a major issue for North Dakota families.

I think some of the solutions, its obviously a multi-pronged issue. Some of the issues that could help with that is at the federal level. President Biden has recently put forward the idea of negotiating on the highest-cost drugs that Medicare pays for. Our older Americans take a lot of drugs and being able to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies on the cost of those drugs for these public health care plans will be a huge cost saver, said Karla Rose Hanson.

With more than 60 million people living in rural America, just today the Biden Administration announced its plan to take action to improve the health of rural communities and help rural healthcare providers stay open.

A piece of that puzzle includes Building on the Affordable Care Act and Inflation Reduction Act to increase access to affordable health coverage and care for those living in rural communities.

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Political Panel: Affordable healthcare and COVID-19 - KX NEWS