[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS FOR MEDICARE PATIENTS

  (Mr. COOKSEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COOKSEY. Mr. Speaker, I am a physician. Thirty years ago when I 
finished medical school, most of the patient's care was in-patient, and 
most of the pharmaceutical benefit was in-patient. Today, 25 percent of 
the cost of health care for Medicare patients is the pharmaceutical 
benefit. This is because most of health care for seniors and for 
everyone else is carried out on an outpatient basis today.
  I feel that Medicare patients need some help with their 
pharmaceutical benefits. The truth is, two-thirds of Medicare patients 
already have a benefit. This two-thirds of the Medicare population does 
not need a pharmaceutical benefit. That leaves one-third who, in many 
cases, have high expenses for their pharmaceutical costs and 
desperately need some help with their Medicare benefits.
  Medicare needs an integrated system with Medicare that will pay for 
these benefits. We have the best pharmaceutical industry in the world. 
We do not need to put them under the bureaucracy.
  Mr. Speaker, this Republican supports a Medicare benefit for 
pharmaceuticals.

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