[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   INTRODUCTION OF THE SENIOR PRESCRIPTION DRUG ASSISTANCE EXPANSION 
                           DEMONSTRATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 29, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce The Senior 
Prescription Drug Assistance Expansion Demonstration Act of 1999. In 
doing so, I am offering legislation which serves as a viable first step 
towards addressing the serious issue of rising prescription drug costs 
for our Nation's seniors.
  The purpose of this legislation is to provide assistance to those 
states which have undertaken the step to offer supplemental assistance 
for low income seniors to help defray the rising cost of prescription 
medications.
  This legislation will create a demonstration project that will 
provide block grant funding to permit three states with an existing 
prescription assistance program for low income seniors to raise their 
income eligibility by $5,000 for both single individuals and married 
couples. Should the program be successful, it can later be expanded to 
other states that have created such prescription assistance programs.
  This legislation recognizes that the participating states have widely 
varying requirements with regards to the administration of their 
prescription-assistance plans. Consequently, it will not alter these 
requirements in any way, except that to qualify for the federal funds, 
each state must raise its income eligibility for both the single and 
married categories.
  Mr. Speaker, the last five years have seen both a rapid increase in 
the amount of revolutionary drugs available on the market, as well as 
in the price of those drugs. The availability of these new drugs has 
been a wonderful result of annual advances in medical technology and 
knowledge. Regrettably, these advances also come with a price, one that 
is increasingly difficult for many senior citizens to pay.
  A number of our colleagues in this House, as well as in the other 
body, have offered various bills designed to address the rising cost of 
prescription medication for senior citizens. These bills have tended to 
use either price controls, or the extension of free or heavily 
subsidized prescriptions as a new federal entitlement, as a solution to 
this problem.
  The nation's experience with price controls during prior 
administrations has shown that they are not a viable tool. Moreover, 
while the new entitlement proposed by the current administration sounds 
appealing, neither the President, nor anyone in the minority has 
offered a viable way to pay for it. In our current budget environment, 
an entitlement proposal without a clear funding source is nothing more 
than a hollow promise.
  Furthermore, price controls for prescription drugs run the very real 
risk of stifling future development in medical advances. While none of 
the major drug companies has any reason to plead poverty, the 
implementation of a federal system of mandatory price controls would 
certainly serve as a major disincentive on the future research and 
development of new prescription medications. In this sense, medical 
success does come with a price.
  On the other hand, prices should not be so high that the target 
audience for which the drugs were developed cannot afford to purchase 
those drugs. Regrettably, this has increasingly been the case over the 
past several years for seniors living on fixed incomes.
  The Federal Government has a vital role to play in fostering 
innovation in medicine, so that today's seniors can receive the 
benefits of tomorrow's new medical technology. The last few years have 
seen wonderful advances in drugs to treat osteoporosis, arthritis, and 
Alzheimer's disease.
  At the same time, a new federally run bureaucracy is not the answer 
to address the needs of our senior citizens being able to afford these 
new drugs as they become available. Such a bureaucracy would take 
medical decisions on which drugs to prescribe away from doctors, dampen 
the overall level of medical research on new drugs, and force seniors 
to accept a one-size-fits-all federal program.
  This legislation would avoid those problems. It sets out to expand on 
ideas that the states have shown do work in practice. The Epic program 
in New York is highly successful, and legislators of both parties in 
Albany have consistently voted to expand the program each year. 
However, these State officials understand that New York cannot afford 
on its own to cover every senior that it should.
  By partnering with New York and other States with prescription 
assistance programs, the Federal Government will be able to both 
provide aid to thousands of seniors on fixed incomes with their monthly 
prescription drug bills, while leaving prescribing authority where it 
belongs, with the doctors. In essence, everyone wins.
  Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join in supporting 
this worthwhile legislation, which helps needy seniors by providing the 
States with resources to expand programs which have already been proven 
to work.

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