[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1953-H1954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PHARMACIES ARE IN TROUBLE

  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim 
the gentleman's time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Kansas 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, much of what I am about in Congress 
is about the fight to preserve and enhance the opportunities that exist 
in rural America. My goal, among others, as a Member of Congress is to 
see that there is a future for the communities and the people who live 
there across my State. I represent one of the most rural districts in 
the country. A component of that is to make certain that the citizens 
of those rural communities can access adequate and affordable health 
care.
  We often think of health care as a hospital or a physician. Tonight I 
rise with great concern about a development across our country and 
especially in rural America that is occurring in regard to the loss of 
community pharmacy. We are beginning the process of losing that Main 
Street business and that health care provider, the community 
pharmacist.
  In many communities across my State, and I am sure it is true around 
the country, that community pharmacist is struggling and the doors are 
beginning to close. Examples: today in Kansas, southeast Kansas, the 
population less than a thousand people, that pharmacist is closed for 
the last 4 months, no other pharmacist in the community. The next 
pharmacy is 30-35 miles away. This has an impact not only upon the 
hospitals and doctors in that area, but clearly an impact upon the 
community members, the patrons of that pharmacy, those who rely upon 
the health care to be delivered by that pharmacist.
  My own father, 90 years old, rarely sees a doctor because if you see 
a doctor, that doctor will tell you something is wrong with him, and he 
does not want to know that. But he relies upon his community pharmacist 
because he is there drinking a cup of coffee to put the blood pressure 
cuff on his arm and provide him advice and suggestions about a healthy 
life.
  That community pharmacist is an important component of our business 
community, and it is a way we deliver health care in communities across 
our country.
  Due to the consequences of the prescription drug bill part D, our 
community pharmacist's future is bleak. In part it is due to the lack 
of timeliness of the payments that are occurring. The average wait in 
Kansas is 45-60 days. When I was in Leoti, Kansas, in March, and Leoti 
is a community of about 900 people, that community pharmacist had not 
been reimbursed for one prescription drug bill delivered to a senior 
since January 1.
  Almost all pharmacists in my district and across the State have had 
to take out a line of credit just to stay in business. I want to 
highlight a bill that has been introduced by the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Jones) and by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) and 
a bill by the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker) that would 
require those sponsors of those drug plans to promptly pay the 
submitted claims.
  It is unacceptable that a pharmacist would have to wait 2 months to 
be paid for the bills, and it is unacceptable because it is wrong. It 
is not the right thing to do, but it is a terrible occurrence because 
it means the demise of his or her business.
  In addition to that, almost all pharmacists lose money on the 
prescriptions they fill under the Medicare plan part D, and the 
sponsors of those plans allow almost no negotiating room for those 
pharmacists. We need to change that. I would highlight a bill that I 
and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) have introduced, the 
Community Pharmacy Fairness Act, to give independent pharmacists the 
freedom to ban together to negotiate with drug manufacturers.
  Time is of the essence. Pharmacist Kody Krein from St. Francis, 
Kansas, he grew up in that town. His life goal was to return to St. 
Francis as a community pharmacist. He has given us until July 1 and 
then he will make a decision whether he can continue as the sole 
pharmacist in that town. His three kids are in the school system in St. 
Francis, Kansas. It would be a terrible thing to lose that community 
pharmacist, to lose his family, and to lose that man's hope for a 
career in his hometown. That does not happen enough in rural America 
where a young son or young daughter actually is returning home to the 
family community. There is no pharmacist in the St. Francis area for 35 
miles. We have a short period of time before we can correct this.
  You may say this is a handful of examples. I am exercised about this 
issue. It is troublesome to me that this Congress, this place, 
Washington, D.C., has become so political that we cannot address this 
issue, that if an issue is brought to the floor that we are fearful 
that the Democrats will make an issue of it, that we have come to the 
point where nothing is done because there are political consequences to 
the issue even being discussed.

[[Page H1954]]

  There are challenges and problems that are created by part D that 
need to be addressed. These issues are so important to me that it is 
time for us to set aside the political bickering and actually address 
the needs of the country. It is a political place that we work in. We 
all know that, but the problem is that we simply cannot use politics as 
an excuse to do nothing. It is time for us to make certain that good 
things occur and we cannot be responsible for the loss of a business, 
the loss of a family, and the loss of three students in a classroom in 
rural communities across our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that we no longer delay, that we bring attention 
to this issue to the House floor.

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