[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESCRIPTION DRUG FAIRNESS FOR SENIORS

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about 
some of the work of Congress, armed with concern and new evidence that 
senior citizens in America and in northeast Wisconsin from my survey 
are paying a lot more for needed prescription drugs, on average 85 
percent more, than the favored customers of the drug companies.
  I have just compiled the results of a new survey of pharmacies across 
my district in northeast Wisconsin. We asked the price that seniors and 
other individuals pay for their prescriptions, then compared that price 
to what the drug companies charge their volume buyers. We found that 
senior citizens are paying nearly two times as much, 85 percent more, 
than the big buyers and the insurance companies. It is outrageous. 
Seniors rely on their prescription medications, and seniors are most 
likely to be on a fixed income. Most importantly, Medicare the main 
source of health coverage for seniors, does not cover the cost of most 
prescription drugs, leaving seniors to pay for their prescriptions out 
of their own pockets. My study shows that drug companies are making 
huge profits on the backs of seniors.
  I will be fighting, therefore, for new legislation, the Prescription 
Drug Fairness for Seniors Act, put forward by the gentleman from Maine 
(Mr. Allen) guaranteeing older Americans the same prices for their 
prescription drugs that the Federal Government gets from drug 
companies.

                          ____________________