August 26, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Wednesday, August 26, 2020 This week | started teaching Opinion Page “ElkCituNews again. | will be sleeping ina Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 Government tent in the backyard intervention By Emily Kolbourn, The Hartford Courant what we feel is necessary to keep our family safe, not our backyard because my re- spring when I was teach- turn to school compromises Iam a high school English only because our family my family’s health and safe- from home and undertaking ing my high school students teacher and have been for 14 has grown accustomed to ty. The combination of the would hurt my own doctoral course- years. I am also a doctoral making health and safety a pandemic and the political work in an online model rife candidate, mother of a rising priority but because what will to return to in-person kindergartner and am mar- we know about COVID-19 instruction forces choices with challenges. Virtual learning is poli energy tied to a fellow high school from a scientific and medi- on teachers that none of us teacher. cal perspective has evolved. should have to make. What cally unpopular; however, it When I return to school Although schools have will be worse for my 5-year- is the only option that keeps this week for the profes- planned a return to in-person old: Missing out on countless teachers, our families and producers sional development that will instruction with mom-kisses, or potentially the community at large safe. featured precede our students’ start, I protocols like the increased having to bury his father? plan on kissing my 5-year- frequency of surface clean- Enduring remote learning or We ought to be using these old and my husband good- ing, these protocols repre- having his first experience next days and weeks to en- By Tom Giovanetti and Drew Johnson bye. I’m going to school in sent May 2020, not August of school be under pandemic sure that meaningful, robust, my scrubs, wearing my PPE, 2020, thinking about this vi- conditions? viable online learning is America’s energy sector has seen better days. The recent keeping the windows in my tus. Just since July, TheNew Many teachers in Connect- possible. We should not be price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia rocked oil and classroom open and begin- York Times has published icut and elsewhere will be practicing protocol related ning to troubleshoot teach- articles highlighting studies left in a terrible predicament. gas markets -- and the coronavirus outbreak has reduced to surface cleaning. ing and learning under the indicating that: Although we will be required demand and forced some companies in the renewable sec- In the meantime, I have hybrid model. Children bear a greater vi- to teach five days a week, tor to stall projects and furlough workers. When I return home, how- ral load than adults; children our own children whose been counting down my Despite these upheavals, the government has yet to inter- ever, I will no longer set foot 10-19 have the same capac- districts will open under the family’s —_close-proximity vene. The Trump administration chose not to impose tariffs inside our home. My hus- ity as adults to transmit and hybrid model will only have moments. My son cries band’s medical conditions be sickened by the virus; access to school two days a when he remembers that on Saudi Arabia, and Congress left the renewable energy put him at greater risk for this virus is airborne, and week. This will require us to we won't be able to snug- sector out of the first batch of COVID-19 stimulus pack- grave health repercussions airborne particles are spread shoulder unexpected finan- ages. gle when I have to return to or death from COVID-19, at a greater distance and in cial burdens or take leaves so I’m sleeping in a tent in greater quantity than previ- under the expanded provi- school. This tears me apart. That’s for the best. Tariffs, tax credits, and other govern- our backyard and isolating ously thought; toilet plumes sions of the Family Medi- A recent Tuesday night was ment interventions would only weaken the energy industry, myself from my husband _ school restrooms are lid- cal Leave Act. Districts that our last family meal together which doesn’t need help surviving the present crises. Poli- and young son. We live in less _ fling aerosols in re- have not thought creatively indoors and the last time I’ll cymakers can help energy firms and consumers alike by a modest home, not config- strooms; schools that have about child care solutions tuck my son into bed for the letting the market sort itself out. ured for quarantine. opened in the United States are likely to experience mass foreseeable future. COVID-19 hit the energy industry from all sides. Stay-at- Mine is a large tent. We’ ve have already experienced absences of teachers. Emily Kilbourn teaches run electricity to it, and I outbreaks and closures, thus I am well-aware of the home orders caused demand for energy to plummet just as have a camping shower and amplifying the potential for problems associated with English at Ridgefield High Saudi Arabia flooded the market with cheap oil. Together, toilet. It could be worse. community spread. online learning. I expe- School in Ridgefield, Con- these factors pushed oil prices to 17-year lows and dealt a If this seems extreme, it’s Tam sleeping in a tent in rienced them myself this necticut. major blow to America’s fossil fuel sector. And by reducing demand for electricity, COVID-19 has disrupted the renew- able energy sector, particularly wind and solar power. Administration responds to Naturally, policymakers want to help the energy industry through these uncertain times. President Trump recently expressed his willingness to impose tariffs on oil imports to pandemic by making bolster domestic production. In Texas, regulators are debat- ing a system of production quotas designed to stabilize the state’s energy market. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress healthcare less affordable have called for the next phase of federal stimulus to include By Patrick J. Kennedy patients are severe. Tens of As someone who spent his could lose coverage. tax credits and direct payments to the renewable sector. COVID-19 has exacer- millions of Americans suffer career -- inside the House This is no way to respond These policymakers certainly have good intentions, but bated the struggles faced by from mental illness. Among of Representatives and out to a pandemic. Our leaders Americans living with men- them, 40 million depend on -- working to strengthen the energy industry doesn’t need such drastic interventions. tal health conditions like de- antidepressant, anti-anxiety, should be prioritizing efforts mental health care, I am American oil and gas companies have weathered all sorts pression, anxiety, and bipo- or antipsychotic medica- shocked by the recklessness that ensure patients can con- of this rule. It gives insurers tinue to access medications of upheavals, from the energy crises of the 1970s to the lar disorder. tions. ‘Yet, in the midst of an un- That’s why coupons of- free reign to impede access at little cost. For instance, 2008 financial crisis. No matter how dire things get, mar- precedented public health fered by drug manufactur- to lifesaving medications, the House passed the HE- kets tend to bounce back. crisis, the Administration ers are more important than which worsen health out- ROES act, which includes a If anything, government intervention could harm the en- finalized a rule that could ever. comes for millions. provision to subsidize CO- ergy industry down the line. As the rapid resolution of the make the lives of Americans Roughly one in five pri- When out-of-pocket BRA coverage -- the pro- more challenging. vately insured patients who spending rises, data dem- Saudi-Russia price war shows, the current crises won't last The new rule from the relies on a branded drug onstrates that patients veer gram that allows laid-off workers to keep employer- forever. Imposing tariffs or quotas now will impede the en- Centers for Medicare and uses a coupon to keep out- from necessary medications. ergy industry’s ability to bounce back when the COVID-19 Medicaid Services of-pocket costs down. Tradi- About 30 percent of patients sponsored health insurance. allows insurers to ignore the value tionally, coupons save hun- failed to take medicines as Such legislation is the sort of pandemic subsides, and demand for oil and gas returns to of copay assistance cou- dreds of dollars each year. prescribed for financial rea- action we need. normal. By artificially reducing the oil supply, tariffs and pons when calculating out- Consider a 45-year-old fe- sons. Fifty percent of those The COVID-19 crisis quotas could eventually raise prices for consumers. of-pocket spending. This male who relies on a brand- with major depression or compounded the health and could cause pharmacy costs name antidepressant that anxiety disorders already Extending federal stimulus funds to the renewable en- to skyrocket -- and make it carries a copay of $200 each deviate from treatment regi- financial challenges many ergy sector is similarly shortsighted. The entire renewable difficult to fill prescriptions month. The drug’s manufac- mens. And a third of those Americans face. And sadly, energy sector is responsible for less than 20 percent of total or take medicines as pre- turer might offer a $150 cou- prescribed —_ antipsychotics our Administration seems scribed. pon, leaving a charge of $50. and anxiolytics don’t follow hellbent on aggravating US. electricity generation. Americans don’t need wind or High pharmacy costs have Today, most insurers count their medication regimens. those challenges. solar power to heat their homes or power their businesses. burdened those on multiple the $200 as out-of-pocket, As out-of-pocket costs Fortunately, insurers are With so much of the economy ravaged by COVID-19, medications. Roughly half helping the patient quickly rise, “non-adherence” will under no obligation to take of Americans report difficul- approach her prescription rise. That’s a big reason why there’s no sense using taxpayer dollars to support the re- ties affording medicines. deductible. This is logical; a states require insurers to advantage of this rule. By newable sector. If renewable energy firms hope to gain The outbreak of COV- $150 copay assistance cou- count the full value of copay counting coupons, insurers equal footing with oil and natural gas producers, they'll ID-19 worsened this finan- pon should be treated like a coupons. can show they care about cial strain. Since lockdowns gift card. Unfortunately, this isn’t customers’ well-being and need to learn how to survive economic downturns without began, tens of millions of Under the CMS rule, in- the Administration’s only want to be part of a true re- the government coming to the rescue. Americans lost jobs. People surers can pretend the cou- effort to hurt patients. The covery. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a real challenge to are struggling to make ends pons were intended for their president is supporting states meet. benefit. This will increase seeking to invalidate the Af- Patrick J. Kennedy is a American energy producers. But if lawmakers want to sup- mental health advocate and At this time of uncertain- the money patients must fordable Care Act in the port this crucial sector of the economy and protect con- ty, stress, and isolation, the spend before insurance ben- Supreme Court. If they suc- former Rhode Island con- sumers from energy price hikes, they’Il let the industry sort risks faced by mental health efits kick in. ceed, millions of Americans gressman. things out itself. Tom Giovanetti is the president of the Institute for Policy Have a letter to the editor to share? Send your letter to the editor to [email protected] Innovation, a Dallas-based public policy think tank. Drew Johnson is an energy policy expert who serves as a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research.