Another great episode with a someone that brings a very unique perspective, US Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia’s first district. Rep. Carter has worn many hats from Pharmacist to business owner, mayor of a suburban town, and for the last 12 years, as the US Representative from Georgia’s largest district. What is such a perspective from someone outside our industry and the work he sees is necessary to improve healthcare in such a thriving suburban town that currently cannot meet the needs of its residents. A great conversation with US Congressman Buddy Carter.
Guest: US Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter
Earl L. “Buddy” Carter is an experienced businessman, health care professional and faithful public servant. For over 32 years Buddy owned Carter’s Pharmacy, Inc. where South Georgians trusted him with their most valuable assets: their health, lives and families. While running his business, he learned how to balance a budget and create jobs. He also saw firsthand the devastating impacts of government overregulation which drives his commitment to ensuring that the federal government creates policies to empower business instead of increasing burdens on America’s job creators.
A committed public servant, Buddy previously served as the Mayor of Pooler, Georgia and in the Georgia General Assembly where he used his business experience to make government more efficient and responsive to the people. Buddy is serving his fifth term in the United States House of Representatives and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee and the House Budget Committee. He proudly serves as Chairman of the E&C Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials, where he prioritizes beating China, reducing emissions, unleashing American energy, and creating a pro-growth business environment. As a pharmacist serving in Congress, Buddy is dedicated to working towards a health care system that provides more choices, less costs and better services.
A lifelong resident of the First District, Buddy was born and raised in Port Wentworth, Georgia and is a proud graduate of Young Harris College and the University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Buddy married his college sweetheart, Amy. Buddy and Amy have three sons, three daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.
Transcript
Aaron Higgins:
Welcome to Beyond the Stethoscope Vital Conversations with SHP. On today’s episode, we’re joined by Congressman Earl Buddy Carter for the 1st District of Georgia. Congressman Carter has been in office since 2015 and serves on the Energy and Commerce and the Budget Committees of the House of Representatives. He’s also a pharmacist and for many years was the lone pharmacist in Congress. Today he sits down to discuss with us many of the issues facing our country’s healthcare. Are you ready for this vital conversation? Let’s get started.
Jason Crosby:
Hey everyone, welcome to Beyond the Stethoscope Vital Conversations with SHP. I’m Jason Crosby and I’m joined today by my partner in crime, aaron Higgins. Tell you what? Today we have a special guest US Congressman from our very own Georgia’s 1st District Representative, earl Buddy Carter, known as Buddy in our area. Congressman Carter, thanks for joining us today.
Congressman Carter:
Well, thank y’all for having me. I’m excited about being here.
Jason Crosby:
Fantastic. Thanks again. We know you’ve got a busy schedule, so we appreciate your time. Tell you what, so we have some great questions. We know you’ve got a busy schedule, so we appreciate your time, so we have some great questions. We want to jump right into the conversation. Tell you what, if you wouldn’t mind start off by telling everyone a little bit about yourself, your health care background, which is unique up there in DC, and your time and responsibilities as a US congressman.
Congressman Carter:
Well, first of all, I was born and raised in West Chatham County, specifically in Port Wentworth, went off to school and came back and settled in Pooler and have been in Pooler since 1980. So I’ve seen a lot of change in Pooler and it continues to just improve thanks to the good work of the mayor and council there in Pooler, and they continue to do a great job. I had the opportunity to serve as mayor of the city of Pooler and also served in the state legislature and now serve in Congress. But professionally I’m a pharmacist and for many years I was the only pharmacist in Congress. In fact, one of my colleagues had given me the hashtag OPIC to mean only pharmacist in Congress.
Congressman Carter:
Well, a couple of years ago we got another pharmacist in Congress, diana Harshbarger from Tennessee, and she’s a rising star doing a great job. Diana Harshbarger, from Tennessee and she’s a rising star doing a great job. But my colleague told me he said well, you can continue to use the hashtag OPIC, but now it means oldest pharmacist in Congress. So I guess I’ll have to go along with that. You know it is important and obviously in Congress I concentrate a lot on health care issues, as you would expect being a pharmacist, and that’s why I’m enjoying serving on the Energy and Commerce Committee. One of the reasons why is because that’s where the health subcommittee is and that’s where I need to be.
Aaron Higgins:
That really frames, I think, for our listeners here you have the bona fides, as it were, speaking as the health care professional in Congress. But how has your time in Congress evolved your perspective on health care and how would you say that that has shaped what you do in Congress now? You said you were on a committee. Talk a little more about that, if you could.
Congressman Carter:
Well, you know, first of all, I want to share a quick story with you because you know, I was a mayor, as I said, and I served in the state legislature, and in both of those you have the opportunity to really get things done in kind of a quicker way. The wheels run so slow in Washington DC. I’ll never forget that when I was in the state Senate and this seat became available, became open, I went to then Governor Nathan Deal, who had served 16 years in Congress, and I told him I said, governor, I’m not going to be running for reelection in the state Senate, I’m going to run for Congress. And he was very encouraging of me, but he was not encouraging of Congress at all. He sounded like someone who had been up there 16 years. And he told me he said you’re going to be frustrated. He said you serve here in the state legislature. You can come here and in 40 days you can introduce a bill in one chamber, get it out the other and sign in the law and then go home. He said in Washington DC you can work for years on an amendment and never get it done. And you know he was right. It is very frustrating.
Congressman Carter:
The wheels move very slow in Washington DC, particularly as it relates to health care. Now, having said that, I will tell you that we have had a few instances where that has not been the case, specifically because of the pandemic that we went through. Telehealth is something we’ll talk a lot about during this podcast and because it’s such a big issue for me and for the country right now. It’s been said that telehealth grew more in two weeks than it did in 10 years during the pandemic and it really became an integral part of our healthcare system. So you know, on one hand, I’ll say that it takes a long time to make changes in healthcare. On the other hand, I’ll say that the pandemic really helped us to make some good changes rather quickly.
Aaron Higgins:
Well, you bring up an excellent point. Legislation takes time Now. Well, you bring up an excellent point Legislation takes time. Now, two bills in particular that we wanted to talk to you about are two bills that you’ve supported the Lower Cost, more Transparency Act and the Saving Our Students in School Act From a high level. We don’t need to get into the weeds. I don’t think our listeners want to get into the weeds as much as I would. What can you tell us about those bills and maybe even the process in getting those for even out there for consideration? How long did that take?
Congressman Carter:
Well, that’s a great question and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss both of these bills, particularly the Lower Cost, more Transparency Act, because what this was was really a conglomeration, if you will, of about 27 bills that were passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee that we put all into one act. They’re all relevant and all the same subject matter, but instead of taking them individually, we put them all together because they all strive to do the same thing, and that is to lower prescription, drug and healthcare costs and to increase transparency. I’ve always said that, you know, sunlight is the greatest transparent out there, and that’s what we have to keep in mind. Is that the more transparency we have? Because right now in our healthcare system it is very opaque and you know, I just got back from the doctor’s office a few minutes ago and you know, before I even walk in, they say, oh, you owe $218. I have no idea what that was for. Now I’ve got to go back and I’ve got to try to figure out what that was for, and you know I’m a health care professional.
Congressman Carter:
If that happens to me, I can only imagine what it’s like for most people you know who aren’t in the healthcare realm and in the healthcare world. So it really is. It really is something that we need to work on and something that that this, the lower cost, more transparency will help, because, whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent will help, because whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, you all want the same thing in health care. You want accessible, affordable, quality health care, whether you’re Democrat or Republican accessible, affordable, quality health care, and one way we can make it accessible or make it affordable is through transparency. If we have more transparency, then we would have better health care.
Jason Crosby:
Congressman you’ve hit on a couple of great points already in terms of telehealth and accessibility and such. What would you say is in terms of your vision for the future of health care delivery in the United States and again mentioning telehealth and the role that technology plays and other innovation that may follow, how do you see that playing out in terms of healthcare delivery going forward?
Congressman Carter:
I think it’s going to be extremely important for a couple of reasons. First of all, you know we said access and how important access is. Telehealth gives people access to healthcare. We also have a provider shortage in this country. We don’t have enough primary care providers, we don’t have enough psychiatrists, we don’t have enough of just about every discipline within the healthcare system. This will give us a chance to be more efficient and to utilize the services that we do have available in a more efficient way, and I think you know that’s going to be extremely important. It’s extremely important. Telehealth is extremely important in rural areas of our country. Now, I acknowledge that there are urban deserts where we don’t have access to health care, but you know, the rural areas really do struggle and that’s why telehealth plays such an important role. You know we say all the time that there are two Georgias, there’s Atlanta and everywhere else. Well, we’re everywhere else and you know we just don’t have the access here in South Georgia that they do up in the Atlanta area.
Jason Crosby:
That’s an excellent point and you know you mentioned, for example, telehealth during the pandemic in terms of its growth in just a matter of a couple of weeks and obvious government involvement at the time. What role do you see the government playing in taking healthcare delivery to that next level and hopefully embracing further technological advancement? What role do you see the government playing there?
Congressman Carter:
Two roles. First of all, from a healthcare perspective. You know the federal government is the highest utilizer of healthcare services in America Medicare, Medicaid all of those are funded through the federal government. So you know, reimbursement is going to be very important and being able to utilize those services and make them more readily available is going to be very important. Now, also, on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I serve on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee as well as the Health Subcommittee Communications and Technology. Access to broadband, communications and technology, access to broadband, access to high-speed internet very, very important. We can’t have telehealth unless we have broadband and high-speed internet. That’s particularly important in the rural areas
Aaron Higgins:
It certainly feels like a multi-pronged approach. You know the other bill, the Lower Costs and More Transparency Act, combining multiple ideas that were more or less overlapping, and I think Jason would agree with me I’m a policy wonk, I love legislation. So there’s another bill that’s kind of in the same vein, no pun intended, but HR 4605 from last fall, the Healthy Moms and Babies Act, as it was called. How does that contribute, then, towards obviously having healthy moms and babies right? That’s certainly a big issue in America, and you know how do you see this bill going to help a problem and maybe help identify what that problem is?
Congressman Carter:
Well, I appreciate you asking about this because I have to be quite honest with you, this is something that has bothered me for years when I served in the Georgia state legislature. I could never understand how Georgia could have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. You would think that that would be and, with all due respect, more like some, you know, maybe Mississippi or Alabama or South Carolina, but Georgia we’re. You know, we’ve got great healthcare services here in this state. So why are we a leader in maternal mortality? And why is the United States a leader worldwide, the most advanced country in the world, and yet we? Our maternal mortality rate is, in some cases, double what it is in other countries? And and it just has never made sense to me and I’ve never been able to get my arms around that, and as much as I study it, I still don’t understand it.
Congressman Carter:
So that’s why we wanted to address it with this legislation. And what it does is we’re trying to reduce maternal mortality and trying to understand how can we address this and why is it worse in black people and brown people than it is in Caucasians? You know, and the CDC tells us, that 80 percent of all maternal mortality could be prevented. Well, if that’s the case, you know why aren’t we doing it? And that’s what we wanted to address with this bill, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We, you know, we’re making sure that we’re looking at the whole person, looking at, you know, depression and about other things that impact mothers, but at the same time, we need to be studying that, we need to have resources going toward it. Telehealth is another. You know I interject that here. This is another area where it can be helpful for mothers as well.
Aaron Higgins:
Yeah, I think it sounds to me that this is the issue that a lot of people don’t even know is an issue. I’ve talked to other people in the profession, I’ve kind of casually mentioned that and they go what we have? One of the highest, certainly the highest amongst the what’s considered the first world. So I think this is a really big issue and so thank you for tackling that. I guess, just to dovetail on that a little bit, how ultimately do you see this contributing to the better patient outcomes, particularly in mothers and infants?
Congressman Carter:
I think it will improve. I think it will help addresses it. I can’t remember what the name of the app was. I wish I could put a plug in for them, but nevertheless, this is a way for them to have mothers to interact with each other and communicate with each other, and that in itself can help, because they’re all sharing, in many cases, some of the same experiences and some of the same worries, some of the same challenges.
Jason Crosby:
I kind of keep going down the legislative path there In January kind of fast forward. Now, here we are. It’s just the first of March, but you’ve been pretty busy. Already In January, you introduced the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act, and so again we talked about healthy moms and babies. Now here we are with making sure emergency services are sufficiently provided for children. What can you share about that that has recently passed?
Congressman Carter:
Well, this is bipartisan, by the way, and let me just say that the Energy and Commerce Committee I would submit to you that it’s the most bipartisan committee in Congress we really do work together on things. You know, broadband is bipartisan. Everybody needs high-speed internet. Broadband Healthcare is bipartisan, as I said earlier, and I think it bears repeating. All of us want the same thing affordable, accessible, quality healthcare. I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat.
Congressman Carter:
So this is another example of a bipartisan bill Kathy Castor, who’s a Democrat from Florida, kim Schreier, who is a Democrat from Washington, a pediatrician also. John Joyce is my other co-sponsor. He’s a Republican. He’s a dermatologist from Pennsylvania. You know we all sponsored this because we want to make sure that children get the appropriate health care during a medical emergency that they need. You would think that that goes without saying or that that goes without legislating, but there are instances where we’ve actually had the emergency medical services for children. This was an act that was established in 1984, and it’s really the only program that’s focused on making sure that emergency care for children and adolescents is available. This is simply a reauthorization of that, but it is extremely important because, as I say, it’s really the only act that addresses this, to make sure that we’ve got the medical equipment that children need, the specific medical equipment, the drugs and all the other things, particularly in the case of emergencies.
Jason Crosby:
Very well said. You’ve hit on a couple of good pain points that you guys are addressing. What are some other pressing healthcare concerns that Georgians, or Americans broadly, are facing particularly? You know we’ve talked about rural communities as well. What other sort of issues there that you see that you and your team are addressing?
Congressman Carter:
Well, a couple of things. First of all, I failed to mention, in answering one of the other questions about another piece of legislation I think you were asking about the Saving Lives in Schools Act, and that is very important. You know we got as everyone knows we’ve got a problem on our southern border and we got a problem with illegal immigrants. But we also got a drug problem, a fentanyl problem, enough fentanyl coming in this country every day. We are losing 200 people every day as a result of fentanyl poisoning, poisoning our citizens fentanyl poisoning, poisoning our citizens. Fortunately, there is a drug that, if used quickly enough after ingesting fentanyl, it can reverse the effects of it. It’s called naloxone. Now I led a letter last year to the FDA encouraging them to turn naloxone into over the counter where you can buy it without a prescription. Now, I’m often critical of the FDA, as I think they are deserving of us to be critical of them, but in this case I have to say I applaud them because they did just that. They made naloxone where you can just walk into pharmacy. Now you don’t have to ask the pharmacist or anything. You can buy naloxone. Well, saving Lives in School Act. What I’m proposing is that naloxone be in every school in America. Everywhere you see a defibrillator, you ought to see naloxone, and it saves lives, and even if we save one life, it’ll be worth it. I keep it in my backpack Everywhere I go. I’ve gotten Naloxone Now. Thank God, I’ve never had to use it, but I have it. So if I run into a situation where we need it, I’ll have it. But it ought to be in every school in America and that’s why I’ve introduced the Saving Lives in Schools Act.
Congressman Carter:
Another thing that I want to mention is, as you would expect, being a pharmacist, you know one of my primary goals has been to lower drug cost. After all, for over 40 years, I was the one who had to go to the counter and tell the senior citizen how much their medication was and watch them make a decision between buying their medicine and buying their groceries. I was the one who had to go to the counter and tell the mother how much her child’s antibiotic was and watch her in tears as she tried to figure out how she was going to pay for it. Well, I set out to do something about that and that’s why we’re trying to get more transparency.
Congressman Carter:
Remember we talked about the lower cost, more transparency. We’re trying to get more transparency, particularly in the drug pricing chain, because that’s very important that we have that transparency in there, particularly when it relates to the middleman the PBMs as they’re called, pharmacy benefit managers. I’ve been in Congress for eight and a half years. Finally. I’ve been since day one asking the FTC to look into the vertical integration that exists in the drug pricing chain. They are finally looking into it, so, whatever their findings may be, I think they’re going to be beneficial to us in healthcare.
Aaron Higgins:
That’s fantastic to hear. So I know we’re running up here on our allotted time, congressman, so certainly thank you for joining us. Two last things that we wanted to talk about quickly. What are any other issues that you wanted to make sure our listeners were aware of and, from your perspective, how would you imagine that our listeners should be contacting their congressmen? You know many of our listeners aren’t in the first district, so I guess, speaking on behalf of your colleagues, what’s the best way for a Joe citizen to get involved and help advocate certain positions or talk to you?
Congressman Carter:
Well, Aaron, as you know, being a public servant yourself, you depend on that and you need input from people. Look, I always say, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. So you need to be at the table and you need to make your voice heard. You need to make sure your profession is represented. I encourage people all the time emails, letters, phone calls, whatever it may be. Please, I want to hear from you. I, you know, I have the honor and privilege of representing the people of the First Congressional District of Georgia and that’s a big responsibility. But I need to hear from them and if you don’t get out there and tell your story, it’s not going to be told, and that’s why it’s so vitally important that people be involved.
Congressman Carter:
It is a citizen legislature. You know, I’m a pharmacist. We’ve got, you know we’ve got new car salesmen, we’ve got farmers, we’ve got preachers, we’ve got way too many lawyers, but you know we’ve got just a citizen legislature in Congress. That’s why it’s important for you to get to know your congressman, to get to know your senator, to get to know and to build up a relationship and, if not necessarily with them, with their staff members, I mean. A lot of times we, you know, I depend on staff. Obviously, I couldn’t do all the things I do if I didn’t have a good team behind me. And I’ve got an excellent team and you need to make sure they know you and you know them.
Aaron Higgins:
Yeah, no, that’s certainly excellent advice, and I think our listeners know if you’ve listened to a previous episode, I’m on my local city council, and so I would encourage people to reach out all levels of government. We’re here and ready to listen. So, congressman, before we let you go, we have a most pressing question that I’m sure all of our listeners want to know what is your favorite Pop-Tart and why? What?
Congressman Carter:
is my favorite Pop-Tart. That’s a good one. I wasn’t expecting that one. You know I’m a chocolate-holic, so I guess anything chocolate, although I don’t know that one. You know I’m a chocolate-holic, so I guess anything chocolate, although I don’t know that Pop-Tarts necessarily come in chocolate. But if I had to choose one, I’d probably say blueberries. I love blueberries, and blueberry Pop-Tarts are good.
Jason Crosby:
Okay.
Congressman Carter:
Thank you all, I enjoyed it.
Aaron Higgins:
Yeah, we’ll see you soon Okay.
Jason Crosby:
Great information and great conversation with Congressman Carter today. We thank you very much for your time, congressman. We can certainly go on and on with lots of more questions and conversations, so we’ll have to do this again sometime. We really appreciate your time and thank you for joining us today, and thank you to our listeners for your time as well. We look forward to our next podcast. Until then, have a great rest of your day.
Aaron Higgins:
This has been an episode of Beyond the Stethoscope Vital Conversations with SHP. If you enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to rate and share it with your friends. It sure helps the show.
Jason Crosby:
Production and editing by Nala Webe. Social media by Jeremy Miller.
Aaron Higgins:
And our co-hosts are me, Aaron C Higgins and Jason Crosby. Our show producers are Mike Scribner and John Crew.
Jason Crosby:
Thank you for listening and we’ll see you next time.