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Rep. Buddy Carter: For tax reform, the best is yet to come

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If you had a tough Tax Day this year, you are not alone. According to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the estimated time burden to complete IRS forms is approximately 8.1 billion hours. That is 25 hours per American and 53 hours per taxpayer. Even worse, it cost $85.6 billion to complete this paperwork, according to the IRS. I have good news, though. When you filed…

Brunswick's Federal Opportunity Zone presents chance for growth

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

For the past five years, Georgia has been named the top state for business. This is certainly something to be proud of, however, as the representative of Southeast Georgia, it is my mission to ensure that this top-rated business climate reaches not only Atlanta, but every corner of our state. Creating fairness in opportunity for urban and rural areas alike was a major goal in…

Tax reform has provided a ripe opportunity for American workers

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

Since President Trump took office, our economy has been strong – low unemployment, the lowest African American unemployment since the statistic has been kept by the Department of Labor, high consumer confidence, and record setting stock market gains.  Since February 2017, 2.28 million jobs have been added to the economy. Now, America can add wage growth to this…

They need cures now

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They Need Cures Now The Augusta Chronicle By: Representative Earl L. "Buddy" Carter Maybe your grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, your friend lives with Crohn’s disease, or your colleague’s child battles Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In one way or another, we’ve all been touched by disease, and we all have a different story to tell. As a lifelong health care professional, I saw…

The man behind the curtain in drug price increases

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

The man behind the curtain in drug price increases The Hill 9/29/2016 By: Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter More so than most issues we deal with in Washington, health care is personal.  We all feel it when something changes in our health care system.  No one is immune, and for some, those changes mean life or death. It is very…

Democrats should stop playing politics with Zika virus funding

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

It is no wonder the American people are frustrated with Washington. I was frustrated by midafternoon the first day I was sworn in to represent the First District in Congress. Few things have been more disappointing to me than the political gamesmanship surrounding the federal government’s response to the Zika virus. It is no surprise that Zika is now being locally transmitted in the…

A Dangerous Experiment

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

This spring, I joined over 240 of my colleagues in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expressing our deep concerns with a sweeping, nationwide experiment that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has proposed. After speaking with patients and physicians in my district, there is no uncertainty that the CMMI experiment with Part B drug…

Finding a Cure for the Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

Before my election to Congress, I served more than thirty years as a community pharmacist.  In that time, I witnessed and participated in some of the greatest advancements in the history of medicine. I have seen diseases that once required hospitalization become illnesses treated from home with medication.  I have seen an antibiotic regimen that once required four tablets…

America Needs the Fair Tax

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

When I opened my first pharmacy some twenty-eight years ago, all I asked for was a level playing field and a fair shot at success.  As a “little guy,” I could not afford lawyers or accountants to help me through those critical starting years.  For several years, I could not even afford to pay myself!    In the years since I have achieved the American Dream –…

The most overtrained and under utilized profession in America

| Posted in Opinion Pieces

In the more than thirty years I have practiced pharmacy, I have witnessed a tremendous evolution in the profession. The clinical foundation and training of a pharmacist graduating today is leaps and bounds above where I started my practice. However, one thing has not changed:  a pharmacists’ role in patient care goes well beyond dispensing medications. Today, as before, many…