[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 127 (Monday, September 27, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H8829-H8830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SENIOR CITIZENS NEED ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, this evening, I rise to address this House 
because our senior citizens can no longer afford the prescription drugs 
that they need to have a decent life. That is the simple truth.
  PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America, has 
formed a bogus consumer group called Citizens for Better Medicare and 
hired a Republican ad agency to front a $20 million to $30 million 
campaign to distort the truth about prescription drugs and senior 
citizens.
  The American Association of Retired Persons spokesperson was right 
when he told the New York Times ``This phony coalition created and 
financed by the pharmaceutical industry is what we have come to expect 
from the drug companies over the last decade.''

                              {time}  1945

  Fundamentally, they are in favor of the status quo, which leaves 
millions of

[[Page H8830]]

older Americans without drug coverage. Helping our senior citizens is a 
moral issue, and the American public is not going to roll over for $30 
million.
  Last week, the Citizens for Better Medicare released a study claiming 
the administration's proposal to provide seniors with prescription drug 
coverage could lead to employers dropping prescription drug benefits 
for retirees. However, pharmaceutical manufacturers have been leading 
the way in increasing prices and forcing employers to stop offering 
retiree prescription drug benefits. From 1981 to 1999, the cost of 
prescription drugs increased by 306 percent, while the Consumer Price 
Index rose only 99 percent.
  The cost of prescription drugs continues to skyrocket. The Health 
Care Financing Administration reports that spending for prescription 
drugs rose 14.1 percent in 1997, compared to a 4.8 percent increase for 
health care services overall.
  The members of PhRMA are by far the most profitable companies 
anywhere. Their profits exceed the research and development costs for 
most large pharmaceutical companies. The drug companies' report claims 
that employers who currently provide prescription drug benefits for 
retirees could choose to quit offering the benefit and save money by 
paying the former employees' Medicare premiums for prescription drugs. 
However, the proposal that they are criticizing would subsidize 
employers for continuing to offer their employees a private sector 
benefit.
  There is also nothing forcing employers to offer retiree health 
benefits, including prescription drugs, to retirees now. And if those 
benefits have more value than a Medicare benefit, they will have the 
same incentives to continue offering the benefit. What the 
pharmaceutical companies are not telling senior citizens is that their 
doomsday scenario is already becoming a reality because of their own 
actions.
  The fictional character the drug companies have invented for their 
ads, called Flo, says she has a private sector drug benefit as part of 
her retirement plan. In real life, only 24 percent of the population on 
Medicare has meaningful private sector coverage for prescription drugs.
  Between 1994 and 1998, 25 percent of the firms that offered health 
benefits to their retirees quit providing coverage. It just cost too 
much. Among the largest employers, companies that employ more than 
5,000 people, over a third have dropped coverage. One of the most 
significant reasons employers are dropping coverage is that they can no 
longer afford to pay the increasingly high cost manufacturers charge 
for prescription drugs.
  Short of that, it is critical that they have access to prescription 
drugs at a reasonable price. The senior citizens in the District that I 
am fortunate to represent, and in every district, know that they are 
simply being robbed. Senior citizens across the country expect every 
Member of Congress to address this situation.
  Drug companies say uninsured Americans should pay twice as much as 
their preferred customers and considerably, two to three times as much, 
more than people in other countries so the international drug companies 
located in America will continue to invest in research and development. 
We know we have to have research and development.
  The high prices they charge Americans make them the most profitable 
industry in the world. The industry's profits as a percent of sales are 
nearly five times, five times, that of the average Fortune 500 company. 
I have a chart here this evening that shows what percent of various 
countries' health care expenditures go to developing new prescription 
medications. The United States is not at the top of the list, as my 
colleagues can see. The United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and 
Germany all invest more than the United States in developing new 
prescriptions.
  Addressing the issues of cost and affordability for prescription 
drugs, as well as finding a reasonable approach to offering drug 
coverage to Medicare recipients, are important priorities. 
Pharmaceutical companies need to stop throwing money away creating 
fictional characters and invest more in creating legitimate new 
medicines. The American public and this Congress are simply not for 
sale. We are going to do everything we can to ensure that our senior 
citizens are treated fairly.
  It is absolutely amazing, Mr. Speaker, that this has continued; that 
we have placed our senior citizens, so many of them, in a position 
where they have to make a decision whether or not to buy food or buy 
their medicine on a daily basis. If it just cost that much, then so be 
it. But the fact is our senior citizens in this country are charged two 
to three times as much as anyone else in the world for this medicine. 
We are simply allowing the pharmaceutical manufacturers to take 
advantage of our senior citizens and, Mr. Speaker, it is time to stop.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my 
Colleagues this evening for this special order on Prescription Drug 
Coverage. I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 664, the Prescription 
Coverage for Seniors Act and I participated in an event a few weeks ago 
in Houston to release an international study on the high costs of 
prescriptions in the Houston area.
  This issue is very important to everyone, not just senior citizens. 
We all know at least one person who has had difficulty obtaining 
prescriptions due to the cost. Senior citizens happen to be the most 
vulnerable.
  In addition to the legislation that has been introduced here in 
Congress, there is the President's proposal to reform Medicare that 
includes a prescription drug component. These proposals have been under 
attack recently by the ad campaign that features a woman named ``Flo.''
  These Flo ads are misleading because they give the impression that 
Flo is a concerned senior citizen. She falsely accuses these proposals 
of interfering in her medicine cabinet--that big government just won't 
leave her alone.
  Although these adds are convincing, they are untrue. The problem is 
not big government in people's medicine cabinets. The problem is the 
insurance industry, the largest and most profitable industry in the 
country. This industry has put these ads out there to fool people into 
believing that they are not the problem.
  These ads may be convincing to some, but many people understand the 
importance of some form of prescription drug coverage. We know that 
there are people who do not have insurance at all and prescription 
coverage would at least help them to have access to beneficial 
medication.
  As I stated earlier, this is a major problem for the elderly, but 
this is also a major concern for people who have become disabled. My 
office received a call today from a woman who worked for many years as 
a teacher before she was stricken with cancer. She had insurance 
coverage through her husband's plan, but she was dropped shortly after 
he passed away.
  In addition to the agony of battling cancer, she also has congestive 
heart failure. She was prescribed medication for these conditions, but 
unfortunately, she cannot afford them.
  She called my office because she hoped to offer her story as a human 
account of the lack of coverage for prescription drugs. She hopes that 
her story will spur us to action before it is too late.
  Although this woman is not a senior citizen, she is disabled and is 
unable to work. Her insurance company dropped her from coverage and she 
has had to struggle to get her prescriptions. This situation should not 
occur in the United States.
  In this country, no one should have to make the choice to live 
without life-saving prescription drugs. We have the resources to ensure 
that people eat every day, so there is no reason why we have citizens 
who live at the mercy of the insurance industry.
  We have created some of the best medications and treatments in the 
world, but if our citizens cannot afford them, then these treatments 
are useless.
  Again, I would like to thank my Colleagues for sponsoring this 
special order tonight. It is important that we tell the American people 
the truth about the ``Flo'' ad campaign.
  More importantly, it is important for us to hear the stories of 
Americans who have had to made agonizing decisions about living with 
the fear of further illness or even death because of the high cost of 
prescription drugs.
  The proposals that provide for prescription drug coverage, such as 
H.R. 664 and the President's plan need serious attention if we are 
committed to an enhanced quality of life for seniors and the disabled. 
I urge my Colleagues to support these lifesaving measures for our most 
vulnerable citizens.

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