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S at u r d ay, a p r i l 4, 2026
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2026 LEGISLATURE
A HOLY WALK
HEALTH CARE
Fight over drug costs bubbles up again Lawmakers want lower prices, but say industry is blocking them BY ALYSE PFEIL
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
ABOVE: Bennett Coney and his sister Charlotte Coney lead the procession Friday along North Fourth Street to the 14th station during the annual Way of the Cross hosted by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, along with the St. Joseph Cathedral. RIGHT: Bishop Michael Duca welcomes everyone to the annual Way of the Cross at St. Joseph Cathedral on Friday.
As Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to lower drug prices for patients, they say their efforts to figure out what’s causing the problem are running into roadblocks from big players in the health care sector. State Sen. Adam Bass, R-Bossier City, said even after holding meetings over the past several months on the topic, drug manufacturers and phar“What I’m macy benefits managers still trying to get to haven’t provided important information about how drug is a lower cost for drugs for prices are determined. “Neither industry has been the consumer. I completely forthcoming,” think both drug said Bass, who is spearheadmanufacturers ing the effort. Now he and other lawmak- and pharmacy benefit ers are pushing for legislation that would force those managers have businesses to turn over interculpability.” nal information they say will help determine why drug SEN. ADAM BASS, costs are rising. R-Bossier City Two bills, one aimed at drug manufacturers and another at pharmacy benefit managers, advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday. “What I’m trying to get to is a lower cost for drugs for the consumer,” Bass said in an interview. “I think both drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers have culpability.” But each side is pushing back and pointing fingers, saying the other is ultimately responsible for the prices consumers pay. A representative of PhRMA, a national trade group representing the pharmaceutical industry, said Wednesday the bill targeting them “will do nothing to lower costs for patients” and “fails to address the core issues of patient affordability.” Lawmakers should instead focus on “bringing accountability to insurers and PBMs.” PCMA, a trade group representing the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, said in a statement that the bill targeting their industry is a “bailout for Big Pharma.”
ä See DRUG, page 5A
Attacks ramp up over Letlow’s DEI comments Cassidy, Fleming continue to criticize her policies
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
How does U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow square endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a college presidential applicant in 2020 and her subsequent anti-DEI voting record in Congress? That’s the question that confronted Letlow Friday in the face of continuing attacks from the man she is trying to
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ELECTION 2026
Cassidy
U.S. SENATE
unseat, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for her calls to expand DEI to hire more women and racial minorities on the faculty when she was applying in 2020 to be the next president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe. In news releases and a video on Thursday and Friday, Cassidy pointed to her comments to challenge her conservative credentials. “Julia is a liberal,” he concluded. State Treasurer John Fleming, the
ä See ATTACKS, page 4A
2 U.S. aircraft downed as war in Iran escalates 1 service member rescued, 1 missing
BY SAM MEDNICK, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press Letlow
Fleming
WASHINGTON — Iran shot down two U.S. military planes in separate attacks Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing, in a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago. It was the first time U.S. aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and
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completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.” One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway. Neither the White House nor Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the searchand-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.
ä See AIRCRAFT, page 4A
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