John Rice Carter: “I am grateful for the time tonight to talk about a very important subject. As many Members know, currently, I am the…”

“I am grateful for the time tonight to talk about a very important subject. As many Members know, currently, I am the only pharmacist serving in Congress, and that is something I take very seriously. Two of the things that I really wanted to concentrate on when I became a Member of Congress, among many things, but two of the main things were, first of all, prescription drug pricing--that is one of the things that we want to talk about here tonight--and the other thing that I wanted to concentrate on was the opioid epidemic. We have been very successful here in Congress in addressing that issue. Tonight I want to talk about prescription drug pricing because I have witnessed it. I have witnessed what I would describe as truly a crisis. After 30 years of practicing pharmacy, I have seen families struggle to pay for their medications. I have seen senior citizens at the counter across from me try to make a decision between buying medication and buying groceries. I have seen mothers literally in tears because they couldn't afford the medication for their children. When I came up to Washington, that was one of the things I wanted to concentrate on. We are very fortunate we have a President and administration who are focused on this issue as well and have done some outstanding things. Two of those things that are being proposed by the administration right now I want to talk about tonight, but the main thing I want to talk about is the prescription drug chain.…”