The mayor in my city cut the ribbon on the new CVS. Strategically located close to a senior citizen residence, a dialysis center, and an emergency medical center, it seems to offer everything, except what any pharmacy offers – low prices on prescription drugs. A recent AARP study stated that one in four New Jersey residents stopped taking medications due to the high price of prescription drugs.
New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone has introduced legislation enabling the government to negotiate the price of drugs for Medicare. But New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is standing with the drug companies opposing negotiated prices not just for Medicare claimants but for the 180 million in our country who require prescription drugs.
This is an issue that affects not just people in New Jersey but millions across the country. It is a social justice issue because many are forced to choose between the drugs that keep them or their children healthy and alive and the food they eat. In the wealthiest country in the world, no one should have to make that choice.
Prayer for the Day
Holy Power of our lives, we are often, perplexed:
For we know not where to turn or what to believe;
You have given us the ability to think, discern, and decide:
Help us to look for your presence as a guide.
Be with us even as we find it in the most unlikely of places,
For we need your wisdom to guide us.
In the name of the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Powerlessness and silence go together. We ... should use our privileged positions not as a shelter from the world's reality, but as a platform from which to speak. A voice is a gift. It should be cherished and used.
Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist and writer
Jesus Christ ... is not only the Lord of small places like the heart, the soul, the church; he is the cosmic Lord of large spaces like politics.
Leonardo Boff, Brazilian liberation theologian
Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you who have my teaching in your hearts;
Do not fear the reproach of others, do not be dismayed when they revile you.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worms will eat them like wool;
But my deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.
Isaiah 51: 7-8