No sooner had the Gazette reader complained to me about the move by the West Virginia Pharmacy Board to change safety rules on free prescription drugs for the working poor than leaders of the drug program wrote a piece for the Sunday Gazette-Mail, telling it like it is.

"One of the unique aspects of free clinic services is that there are few hoops to jump through when seeking health care," wrote Patricia White, director of West Virginia Health Right, and Brenda Dane, director of WVRx.

They see another side of the board's move to tighten the rules in the name of better safety for patients, meaning more supervision by the individual pharmacist at greater cost to the program and a cut in service to patients.

"Just wait and see how many people will be cut off after they change the rule," the reader told me.

The state has 10 free clinics that dispensed more than $55 million in prescription drugs last year. "Standardized controls, risk management and quality assurance practices have been in place in the state's free clinics for more than 25 years," says the Gazette-Mail article.

It takes note of such beneficiaries as a 28-year-old working mother with a son, 7. The mother receives drugs costing nearly $1,000 a month to control a chronic colon problem.

There's the case of the self-employed diabetic who says, "Insurance is not even an option for me due to the high cost. I have a family and, just like many working Americans, it's tough to make ends meet from week to week."

He put a finger on a problem for about 47 million Americans without health insurance, thousands of them in West Virginia. It's a growing national problem.

No sooner had the Gazette reader complained to me about the move by the West Virginia Pharmacy Board to change safety rules on free prescription drugs for the working poor than leaders of the drug program wrote a piece for the Sunday Gazette-Mail, telling it like it is.

"One of the unique aspects of free clinic services is that there are few hoops to jump through when seeking health care," wrote Patricia White, director of West Virginia Health Right, and Brenda Dane, director of WVRx.

They see another side of the board's move to tighten the rules in the name of better safety for patients, meaning more supervision by the individual pharmacist at greater cost to the program and a cut in service to patients.

"Just wait and see how many people will be cut off after they change the rule," the reader told me.

The state has 10 free clinics that dispensed more than $55 million in prescription drugs last year. "Standardized controls, risk management and quality assurance practices have been in place in the state's free clinics for more than 25 years," says the Gazette-Mail article.

It takes note of such beneficiaries as a 28-year-old working mother with a son, 7. The mother receives drugs costing nearly $1,000 a month to control a chronic colon problem.

There's the case of the self-employed diabetic who says, "Insurance is not even an option for me due to the high cost. I have a family and, just like many working Americans, it's tough to make ends meet from week to week."

He put a finger on a problem for about 47 million Americans without health insurance, thousands of them in West Virginia. It's a growing national problem.

By most accounts, the problem requires more than business as usual to fix it, or BS, meaning business strategy that fudges on the public for any and everything, including prescription drug safety.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain each have indicated that the high cost of prescription drugs is part of the high cost of the health care problem, though they differ on how to fix it.

Obama's running mate for vice president, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., has said time and again that the pharmaceutical industry, insurance sector and medical profession work separately and together to maintain business as usual in health care.

They lobby Congress, state legislatures and spend millions in campaign contributions, Biden reminded on TV the other evening. "It takes $100 million to run for president," said the unsuccessful presidential candidate in past attempts.

Now for a prospect of change in the health care system, Democrats have raised more money than Republicans in the current presidential election campaign, according to public reports. Much credit goes to grass-roots giving, young folks and action on the Internet.

I have also said in this space that credit is due Democratic Committee Chairman Howard Dean. When he ran for the presidential nomination, his campaign organization attracted young folks who raised dollars and deeds for the cause, on and off the Internet. Although he lost the nomination, Dean left a model campaign organization.

To be sure, that isn't what the Gazette reader complained about to me. But it could be part of the same piece of cloth after all is said and done to fix the health care problem. It's plain that business as usual won't do.

Peeks is a former Gazette business/labor editor.