Ernst holds town hall in Pella

Feb. 26—PELLA — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) discussed topics ranging from prescription drug prices to Ukraine funding with Southeast Iowa voters on Saturday morning during a town hall.

During the hour-long town hall, which was held at Pella High School, Ernst answered questions from the audience, with the topics varying from local to global.

"I appreciate the time and attention to what's going on in our federal government," she said.

One member of the audience with questions was Mahaska Drug co-owner John Nicholson, who discussed the rising cost of prescription drugs under Medicaid and the squeeze that this has had on business.

According to Nicholson, the average profit per prescription at his store is a -$2.73. Meanwhile, he says the Iowa Medicaid program has determined that it costs around $11 for pharmacies to dispense a prescription.

"And when we look at it as a whole of our total book business through insurance, our average profit has dropped to around $5, but yet our cost is $11 to dispense, so we're losing approximately $6 on every prescription we sell — and we sell close to $150,000 prescriptions per year," Nicholson said. "And as it's going now, this is not going to be sustainable for any independent pharmacy in the state."

Ernst responded by saying that the issue was being discussed in Congress. Particularly, she said they were discussing the roles of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, who are largely responsible for the determination of prescription drug prices.

"There is a lot of different legislation that we have been working on with our pharmacies," Ernst said. "And if you do have certain bills that you are supportive of... that we can take a look at, I'm happy to do that."

The discussion of the border and the ongoing war in Ukraine were also brought up by the audience. During the town hall, she defended her decision to join 21 other Republican senators (including Iowa colleague Chuck Grassley) in voting for a $95 billion security package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, citing her daughter and son-in-law, who are currently in the military.

"I'm all about the platforms and munitions. I'm going to send them that all day because it prevents my daughter and her husband from having to go into a NATO ally and fight the Russians," Ernst said. "I'd rather send a bunch of 155[-mm] rounds into Ukraine and not sacrifice American blood."

Ernst was also asked to make an endorsement for the upcoming Presidential election. While she declined to do so at the town hall, she said she would endorse whoever was on the Republican ticket, stating that it would probably be former President Donald Trump.

"Realistically — you look at it — Donald Trump is going to be our candidate, right?" Ernst said. "Well, whoever the Republican candidate is, I will support. I feel that adamantly that we need a change in the White House."

Donald Promnitz is the associate editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at dpromnitz@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @DonPromnitz.