On Sunday, January 12, it was National Pharmacists Day.
I think it’s quite appropriate that we pay attention and give reward to the work that pharmacists do.
I would like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to Iowa pharmacists for their dedication and for their service.
While we commonly know pharmacists as someone who fills our prescription needs and educates us about medications, pharmacists are typically the most accessible health care provider.
That’s especially true for rural America.
Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within five miles of a pharmacy.
For several Congresses, I’ve been leading a bipartisan effort, called the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act.
The bill encourages pharmacists – only where they are licensed and trained to do this – to offer their health care services under Medicare, such as health and wellness screenings, immunizations and diabetes management.
This is necessary because, for many seniors in rural areas, it’s simply easier to get to a pharmacist than it is to get to their nearest doctor.
I also know it’s vital to protect rural pharmacists from greedy pharmacy benefit managers who have placed unfair pressures on pharmacies in recent years.
In fact, I hear from a lot of Iowa pharmacists that if we don’t do something about pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), we’re going to continue to lose pharmacies in the small communities of rural America, particularly in Iowa.
Since 2018, I and about 65 or 70 of my colleagues have been trying to hold PBMs accountable, through legislation – about three different pieces of legislation – so that we can lower prescription drug prices and, in turn, keep our rural pharmacies in business.
We want to do this through transparency, because nobody knows what PBMs do – it’s an opaque operation, and yet they make up our formularies.
Do they help big companies, pharmaceutical companies, or do they help the consumer?
We don’t know, and we need to know.
So, I hope this Congress will move on some legislation to make what PBMs do transparent, because with transparency comes accountability
I’m going to keep fighting for our pharmacists and consumers.
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