[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 154 (Thursday, November 4, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13920-S13921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR SENIORS

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I have been coming to the floor over the 
last few days in an effort to win support for bipartisan legislation to 
secure prescription drug coverage for the Nation's older people. As 
part of that effort, I have been urging seniors, as this poster says, 
to send in copies of their prescription drug bills to each of us in the 
Senate in Washington, DC.
  In addition to getting copies from seniors of their prescription drug 
bills, I am now hearing from seniors who are sending me copies of 
prescriptions they cannot afford to get filled. This is a prescription 
that was written for an older gentleman at home in Beaverton, OR. He is 
using 21 prescriptions at this point. He has already spent almost 
$1,700 this year on his prescriptions. Here we have three he cannot 
afford to get filled: Glucophage is a drug that one takes to deal with 
diabetes; Tagamet; Prilosec--three very common prescriptions older 
people in our country need and use. This is an example of what he sent 
me, prescriptions his doctor wrote out, and he can no longer afford to 
actually get them filled.
  This is the kind of account I am hearing from seniors across the 
country. We have asked them to send in copies of their prescription 
drug bills. I have a whole sheaf of those, all kinds of bills we are 
receiving in that area. But now we are actually hearing from seniors 
and getting copies of their prescriptions their physicians are writing 
for them that they cannot even take to a drugstore and get filled.
  In the last 24 hours, we in the Senate have been watching the news 
reports about the dueling press conferences involving prescriptions. 
There has been an awful lot of finger pointing one way or another. 
Frankly, each one of them has some reasonable points to make. What is 
so frustrating is that instead of these dueling press conferences and 
going back and forth, having all this finger pointing, the Senate ought 
to be working on bipartisan legislation.
  There is one bipartisan bill now before the Senate. It is the Snowe-
Wyden legislation. The Senator from Maine and I have teamed up over the 
last few months to put together a bipartisan bill to get prescription 
drugs covered for older people on Medicare. We have 54 Members of the 
Senate already on record as voting for a specific plan to fund this 
program. A majority of the Senate is now on record for a bipartisan 
proposal to pay for prescriptions.
  Here we are, with the session only having a few more days to go, 
Senators--I am sure I am not the only one--getting copies from seniors 
of prescriptions that they cannot actually afford to have filled. We 
have asked them in recent days to send us copies of their prescription 
drug bills. They have been doing that. Now they are sending us copies 
of prescriptions they cannot afford to take to their neighborhood 
pharmacy and get covered.
  It is so sad to see these dueling press conferences, and then we 
don't have a response, to have seniors telling us the sad and often 
tragic stories about how

[[Page S13921]]

they can't afford to take their medicine. Their doctor tells them to 
take three pills. They don't do that. They start taking two. They start 
taking one. Eventually they get much sicker.
  The Snowe-Wyden legislation is bipartisan. It uses marketplace 
forces. We don't have a Federal price control regime. We don't have a 
one-size-fits-all health care policy. We have the kind of approach that 
works for Members of Congress and their families.

  Our bill, called SPICE, the Senior Prescription Insurance Coverage 
Equity Act, is a senior citizens version of the kind of health plan 
that Members of Congress have. We incorporated recommendations from 
consumer groups. Families USA, for example, has made some excellent 
recommendations on consumer protections that older people need.
  We have also listened to the insurance sector and the pharmaceutical 
sector, making sure there would be adequate incentives for research and 
the initiatives that are underway to help us find a cure for 
Alzheimer's and all of the illnesses that are so tragic, for which 
every Member of the Senate wants to see a cure.
  I will keep coming to the floor. I want to cite a couple more 
examples before we wrap up. I know other colleagues want to speak.
  I heard recently from a senior citizen in Forest Grove that in recent 
months she spent almost $1,500 on her prescription drugs. Another older 
person from the Portland metropolitan area reported that in a few 
months, she spent over $600 for her medications. She is now taking more 
than seven medications on an ongoing basis.
  Very often the families have to go out and try to find free samples 
to compensate for some of the drugs the older people can't afford. 
Families have to chip in when it is hard for them to afford medicine. 
They are all asking, is the Senate going to just bicker about this 
issue or is the Senate going to come together in a bipartisan way and 
actually do something about these problems? We have more than 20 
percent of the Nation's older people spending over $1,000 a year out of 
pocket on their medicine.
  I am very often asked: Can this Nation afford to cover prescription 
drugs? My response is, we cannot afford not to cover these 
prescriptions. As I have cited several times during these 
presentations, a lot of these drugs help us to hold down costs. They 
help us to deal with blood pressure and cholesterol. The anticoagulant 
drugs are absolutely key to preventing strokes. I cited an example of 
one important anticoagulant drug where for $1,000 a year, in terms of 
the cost to the senior, they are able to save $100,000 in expenses that 
they would incur if they suffered a debilitating stroke when they 
couldn't get these medicines.
  It is absolutely essential that we secure this coverage for the 
Nation's older people. It seems to me now a question of political will. 
Can we set aside some of the partisanship on this health care issue, 
some of the bickering that has gone on back and forth? I believe the 
Snowe-Wyden legislation--a majority of the Senate has already voted for 
in terms of its funding plan--is the way to go. But I know colleagues 
have other ideas.
  What we ought to do is resolve to deal with this issue in a 
bipartisan way. I hope seniors will continue to send us copies of their 
prescription drug bills, as the poster says, to their Senator in 
Washington, DC.
  I hope in the days ahead we won't see a whole lot more of these 
tragedies such as the one I have cited today. It is one thing for a 
senior to send in their bills and say, I am having difficulty paying 
for this; I hope you will cover it. But it is quite another for a 
senior citizen to send me, as this older person did from Beaverton, a 
copy of his prescriptions saying--it says it right down in the margin--
``can't afford to get filled.'' Prescriptions his doctor ordered, in 
effect the prescriptions go unfilled. These are important medicines. If 
you don't take Glucophage and you have diabetes, you can have some very 
serious health problems.
  I am hopeful the Senate will look to get beyond the dueling press 
conferences, look beyond some of the issues that have surrounded this 
discussion in a partisan way and say: We are going to come together and 
go to bat for seniors and their families. It is time to do it.
  I intend to keep coming back to the floor until we secure this 
coverage. It was important for seniors back in the days when I was 
director of the Gray Panthers. It is even more important now because 
these drugs can help us to save bigger health care bills down the road. 
I will be back on the floor continually calling for a bipartisan 
approach to this issue, one that uses marketplace forces to deal with 
the challenge of health care costs.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
15 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Grams pertaining to the introduction of S. 1860 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')

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