Jerry Moran: “much of what I am about in Congress is about the fight to preserve and enhance the opportunities that exist in rural…”

“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.…”