Michael Burgess: “That is a good point. We had a hearing on the Energy and Commerce Committee about this issue just a couple of weeks ago.…”

“That is a good point. We had a hearing on the Energy and Commerce Committee about this issue just a couple of weeks ago. I asked the Secretary, I asked the Administrator to consider having a follow-up hearing in our community when we get to the first week of May. I hope there will be time to do that. This is an issue in which we need to be sensitive. To be certain, no one person on this planet is irreplaceable. If the only place to get drugs turns out, the only place to get prescription drug benefit turns out to be the mail order, well, people will accommodate to that. We will lose value if we lose the corner pharmacist, we lose the corner druggist. They do provide so much in the way of expertise and guidance, even to the point of being concerned whether or not the patients are actually taking the medicine, which has been dispensed, always being certain that they get the right medication dispensed in the right dosage. It does become difficult for these small businessmen to maintain their businesses when the accounts receivable stream has been disrupted a bit, as it was when we made the switch to the Medicare prescription drug benefit. But as these problems work out, as the accounts receivable stream accommodates to that change, I am hopeful that a good many of these pharmacists, in fact, I have had phone calls from some who explain the difficulties they are encountering, but also always will end up with the comment that I feel like this is a good plan.…”