[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICING

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                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 1998

  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman 
Allen and Congressman Berry for their work in organizing today's 
special order.
  As we are hearing today, many seniors are unable to afford the cost 
of prescription drugs due to a lack of insurance coverage and excessive 
drug price inflation.
  Ninety percent of Americans over 60 years or older take one or more 
medications. The days when someone only takes one drug a day are long 
gone. Today's seniors take three or four drugs a day at least. At the 
same time, 45 percent of seniors, age 65 and older, do not have 
prescription drug coverage.
  High drug costs, coupled with this lack of coverage, often means 
making choices between groceries, heating oil, or prescription drugs. 
How many of our constituents have had to choose between buying certain 
foods at the grocery store or buying high blood pressure medicine? How 
many of them had to make sacrifices, just so they could buy their 
medicines?
  For three out of four seniors, prescription drugs represent the 
highest out-of-pocket medical care cost; only long term care costs 
more.
  The prices of the top selling prescription drugs have risen nearly 
four times the general rate of inflation between 1985 and the early 
1990s. Meanwhile, the Federal Government and the taxpayer spends 
billions of dollars to help find drugs to treat the diseases of our 
generation: cancer, Alzheimers, high blood pressure, diabetes, and 
other chronic conditions.
  The industry must do their share as well, and so far they are not 
doing enough. The pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable 
industry in the world. In FY 96, it made over $106 billion in sales and 
revenues and $16.2 billion in sheer profits.
  One example of the profits made in the pharmaceutical industry is 
from the drug TAXOL. TAXOL is an anti-cancer drug that treats breast, 
lung, and ovarian cancers. It makes $800 million in profits annually. 
The NIH budget supplied $32 million of the money needed to research 
this drug. Furthermore, a cancer patient taking TAXOL may pay in excess 
of $100,000, while the cost to the pharmaceutical company that 
manufacturers this drug is only about $500 per patient. We pay for the 
development of these medications, and then pay high prices for their 
use.
  The bill that I introduced this spring with two of my colleagues, 
Republican Congressman Tom Campbell of California and Independent 
Congressman Bernie Sanders of Vermont, gets at both the need for 
seniors' prescription drug coverage and the rising costs of these 
medicines. The bill, called Making Affordable Prescriptions for Seniors 
Act, will provide up to $500 of such assistance, for any legally 
marketed prescription drug that is safe and effective according to the 
FDA.
  Also, I am a proud sponsor of the Prescription Drug Fairness Act, by 
Congressman Allen and Congressman Berry.
  The Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act protects senior 
citizens from drug price discrimination and makes prescription drugs 
available to Medicare beneficiaries at reduced prices.
  The legislation is a ``win-win'' bill because it allows pharmacies 
that serve Medicare beneficiaries to purchase prescription drugs at the 
low prices available under the Federal Supply Schedule. The legislation 
has been estimated to reduce prescription drug prices for seniors by 
over 40 percent.
  It is time that we help alleviate the burden on our nation's seniors 
and become accountable for rising drug costs. It is only fair that we 
end the need to make choices between a good nutrition and shelter or 
critical medication.

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