Benjamin Moore
Kansas resident and Army veteran

Kansas pharmacies have a rich history. In 1885, the third public pharmacy school in the entire U.S. opened at the University of Kansas, and we even have five museums dedicated to our proud pharmacy heritage. 

Yes, pharmacies in Kansas are a part of our history; but sadly, pharmacies are becoming history. Many are closing their doors, and their loss can be felt both emotionally and physically as prescription drugs become less available to communities. Without access to prescription drugs, our ailments cannot be cured – or at least kept at bay.
This is especially true for Kansas’ 144,000 veterans. Many live in rural areas, where the healthcare infrastructure has been dwindling for years. Veterans face more health challenges than nearly any other group in the U.S. Many live with lasting physical and mental injuries from high-pressure tours in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters of war.  Constant exposure to death and injury, long missions with little sleep, extreme heat and cold, and other stressors damaged us physically and mentally. This is at least partly why we experience greater rates of chronic disease, PTSD, and other illnesses compared to the average citizen. It’s also the reason why our prescription medication access cannot be disrupted.
Yet word has circulated that a small group of politicians in Topeka wants to bring a bill here like the one Arkansas passed. That law tried to stop the companies that manage prescription benefits from owning pharmacies. Bringing that idea to Kansas would not solve a single problem. It would only make it harder for veterans and military families to get our medicines.
If such a bill in Kansas were passed, it would have devastating effects for the state. It would hit TRICARE, the military health plan that local veterans, active-duty personnel, and their families rely on. TRICARE depends on prescription benefit companies and the pharmacies they work with to fill and ship our drugs, both in stores and by mail. A copycat law could interrupt those services and lead to many chain pharmacy closures, cutting pharmacy options for veterans, military families, and all Kansans.
Chain pharmacy closures would be especially hard on our activeduty personnel. Military transfers already upend housing, finances, work, family routines, and social support. Now imagine adding the stress of going to a pharmacy counter and being told your anxiety or bloodpressure medicine cannot be filled or delivered. Closing large chain pharmacies would take away the very stores that handle prescription transfers from one state to another and that many military families rely on when they move.
This was not acceptable for veterans and military families in Arkansas, and it should not be acceptable here. When Arkansas passed Act 624, the companies that manage prescription benefits went to federal court, and judges blocked the law because it would severely disrupt TRICARE services and likely violate the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
Yet somehow a few legislators are flirting with the idea of bringing this mess to Kansas. 
Killing pharmacy options in Kansas is more than an inconvenience. It’s dangerous.  Pharmacy closures create pharmacy deserts, where people must drive 10 minutes or more to access a pharmacy. This is especially a problem in Kansas’ rural communities, where roughly 210 rural Kansan towns – and more than a quarter million households – have already been consumed by these growing deserts. 
Kansas’ rural pharmacies are more than simply a place to pick up prescription drugs. They offer access to the one professional caregiver you don’t need an appointment for: your pharmacist. And at a time when Kansas is experiencing healthcare workforce shortages, we need all the pharmaceutical advice we can get. You can also check your blood pressure at your pharmacy, get vaccinations, take diagnostic tests, and of course, get those prescription medicines that can sustain your health and save your life. 
Pharmacies are vitally important to Kansans. They should be a part of our lives today – not a part of history. Legislators should stop considering bills that will make access to medicine infinitely harder, especially for the veterans who have sacrificed so much already.