By Charlotte Bergman
Since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Tennessee has grown across practically every measure of a state’s success: socially, economically, demographically, and politically. We’ve moved from a largely agricultural state to a magnet for music, culture, jobs, and great living.
We largely have conservative Republicans to thank for leading us this far. Our focus on growth through less regulations, lower taxes, and reduced government spending have been a great formula for success. It has expanded our business landscape and brought quality jobs for many happy and fulfilled Tennesseans.
Although we’ve come this far, we’re not perfect. Like any proud Christian conservative, we can always do more for the good of Tennessee, which is why I’d like to shine a light on a bill that I feel takes us a step backward: Senate Bill 2040/House Bill 1959.
If passed, this bill would force pharmacies owned by Pharmacy Benefit Management companies to close their doors by the end of this year. This bill could lead to the closure of hundreds of pharmacies across the state including many large, household-name pharmacy chain stores, pharmacies tucked into supermarkets, specialty pharmacies, and mail-order pharmacies that deliver drugs to the elderly and injured veterans.
Both independent and chain pharmacies are already struggling in Tennessee. We are one of only eight states that experienced a net loss of pharmacies between 2010 and 2020. Over the past two decades, 40 pharmacies in Northeast Tennessee alone have closed. Today, after all those closings, about 650,000 households in the state are now located in pharmacy deserts.
Sadly, low-income and elderly minorities, especially those in rural areas of Tennessee, will be affected most if SB2040/HB1959 passes. Minorities are more prone to serious, chronic health conditions and need more medicines to manage them. Elderly black Americans face diabetes at much higher rates compared to other elderly Americans, and they become diabetic much earlier than white Americans. Nearly 60% of adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, and they have much higher rates of hypertension than others.
For the sick, problems with pharmacy closures across the state go much deeper than inconvenience. It would cause bottlenecks, chaos, and confusion that will make their poor health conditions even worse, leading to even more sickness and eventually death.
Prescriptions will be transferred to small independent pharmacies who aren’t accustomed to handling high volumes of traffic that larger pharmacies typically handle. Customers may go to the wrong locations. They would have to travel further to get them. Mail-order drugs may simply cease to be delivered to the elderly, and some may not know why or even realize it.
Tennesseans wouldn’t be safe in these growing pharmacy deserts even after the confusion subsides. When access to prescription drugs is low and finding them becomes a burden, many Tennesseans will start cutting their pills in half or simply stop taking their medications altogether. When sick patients stop taking their blood pressure medications, blood pressures rise. This leads to heart attacks, strokes, and eventually death.
Overall life expectancy in Tennessee is 73.8 years, more than 6 years shorter than America’s national average. If this bill passes, we Tennesseans could see our life expectancies drop even further.
I believe that many conservative Christian Republicans like me in their heart know the best way forward with this bill, and that is to vote against it. Conservative Christians see more than compassion. They understand that less regulation for businesses means more companies will move to this state, and it means more fulfilling, prosperous lives for Tennesseans.
In contrast, politicians who vote for SB 2040/HB 1959 would bring more – and unusually heavy-handed regulation to the state. This bill seeks to actually break up large, vertically integrated companies. It sends the wrong message to big businesses, who often vertically integrate simply to control quality, save on costs, and pass those savings on to consumers. This is among the reasons why Tennessee’s Chamber of Commerce opposes this bill. It clearly goes against our state’s free-market business environment, which is what has allowed Tennessee to grow and prosper.
This bill is exactly the type of legislation that scares large businesses away from liberal states like California. It holds businesses back. Yes, it’s targeted at one specific business in the healthcare industry, but companies don’t see that. If it can happen in one industry, it can happen in theirs.
This bill simply sends the wrong message to any for-profit company who wants to move or expand here in Tennessee, and we cannot afford to send mixed messages when the health and livelihoods of Tennesseans and our state’s economy are all on the line.
Tennessee has advanced, in many ways, but we cannot afford to step backward through legislation like SB 2040/HB 1959. Tennesseans deserve better.
Charlotte Bergmann has served as a Radio and TV Commentator on Informed Sources both on local TV Channel 3 news and KWAM 990 AM radio. She is a Republican activist and has been a candidate.
