John Rice Carter: “Thank you, Representative Collins, and thank you for hosting this tonight. This is certainly a very important subject.…”

“Thank you, Representative Collins, and thank you for hosting this tonight. This is certainly a very important subject. It is very important to me, personally, yes, but it is more important to our healthcare system. Mr. Speaker, for over 2,000 years, the practice of pharmacies has existed to help people with their ailments. Today, the most common pharmacy position is that of the community pharmacist. Community pharmacists are the front lines of medication, instructing and counseling on the proper use and adverse effects of medically prescribed drugs. However, over the past decade, there have been several issues that have threatened the role of community pharmacists. Being a community pharmacist myself, I know these issues all too well. I believe that there are three main issues that we can address in Congress that will allow the community pharmacists to continue to fill the invaluable role of counseling Americans on the proper use and dangers of prescription medications. First of all, MAC pricing transparency. When I became a Member of the United States Congress and I got involved in government, I jokingly said that if I could learn 10 percent of all the acronyms in the Federal Government, I think I would have been a success. Then I got to thinking about it, and I feel a little silly now because there are a lot of acronyms in pharmacy as well. One of those is MAC, M-A-C, maximum allowable cost. Another is PBM, pharmacy benefits manager.…”