By Rod Pelton

A lot of politicians talk about understanding what life is like for our rural communities, but not many really do. I’m a third-generation Cheyenne County farmer and rancher; I grew up on the eastern plains of Colorado, raised my family here, and as such am deeply committed to our state’s agricultural communities.

I pride myself on working hard to preserve and protect our rural way of life. Our work matters, our community matters and we deserve good representation. We vote not just for advocates in Denver, but when we send members of Congress to Washington, D.C., we deserve to have them be our voice and consider our needs when casting their votes.

Before being elected to the state legislature I served as Cheyenne County commissioner. Throughout my public service, I have heard about the challenges facing local hospitals and rural health care. Preserving good, quality healthcare for rural communities is one of the issues I am passionate about.

A recent study showed 10 rural hospitals here in Colorado are at risk of closing their doors. For many people, like those of us in Senate District 35, these rural hospitals are the only reasonably accessible health care option available should they experience a medical crisis. You won’t hear about this in major news outlets, but many of these rural hospitals are already stretched to their financial limits — some to the brink of bankruptcy.

The first step in ensuring these rural hospitals are able to keep their doors open and continue serving our communities is to call on our elected officials in D.C. to preserve the 340B Program. 340B is vital to the survival of rural hospitals — and the program does not cost taxpayers a dime.

Sadly, since 340B was established in 1992, some drug companies have been spending untold sums of money on lobbying efforts to dismantle it. They call it “reform,” but it is nothing of the sort. If they get their way, the program will functionally disappear for rural Coloradans.

The law establishing 340B impels pharmaceutical corporations to sell their medications at a discount to what are known as “safety net health care providers” — which are often located in rural areas. Those providers can then sell those medications at market prices and use the difference to fund essential care, like neonatal wards, new MRI machines and cancer care. Less well-off patients can also receive lower-priced medications this way.

Drug companies, in an effort scuttle these discounts, are constantly lobbying the people we sent to represent us in the nation’s capital to “reform” 340B. We all know that is D.C. speak for taking away something that is common sense and replacing it with something that may be “expert-approved” but will never function in the real world, far removed from proverbial ivory towers.

I’ve committed my entire political career to looking out for my family, friends, and neighbors: The people who do the hard work of growing, raising and harvesting our food, and looking after this land we love so much. We cannot let them and their needs be forgotten in the halls of Congress. Our representatives must stick to their promise to represent us and represent us well. Protecting 340B is an essential part of that promise.

Rod Pelton is state Sen. for Senate District 35, encompassing 13 counties in southeast Colorado.