[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 13 (Monday, February 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H360-H361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
                        PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about a very 
serious issue confronting our Nation. In the last 4 years, the price of 
prescription drugs in the United States has increased by 56 percent. In 
the last year alone, prescription drug prices in the United States have 
increased by 15.6 percent. That is at a time when our inflation rate is 
running somewhere around 2 or 2\1/2\ percent. Madam Speaker, it is time 
for Congress to take some action to try and stem this ever increasing 
price for prescription drugs. All of us here in the House and all of us 
in Washington know who bears the burden of those tremendous increases 
in prices. It is principally the senior citizens here in the United 
States.
  Madam Speaker, I want to talk tonight about the differentials between 
the United States, what is happening here and what is happening in 
other countries. Many of us have recently read about seniors who are 
boarding buses in our States and going to Canada to buy their 
prescription drugs. It is happening in Minnesota, it is happening in 
Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and all across and throughout the northeastern 
United States as well.
  Let me try to explain how much of a differential there is in the 
price of prescription drugs. Let us take a relatively common, one of 
the more commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. It is a drug 
called Prilosec. Prilosec is prescribed principally for ulcers or 
people who have an acid condition in their stomach. A 30-day supply, if 
one goes and gets a prescription in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at almost 
any pharmacy, and it is not the pharmacist, they only get about a 3 or 
$4 per-prescription fee on it, so it is not the pharmacist that is 
driving these prices. But a 30-day supply in Minnesota, Minneapolis, is 
$99.95.
  You buy that same prescription in Winnipeg, Manitoba for exactly the 
same drug manufactured by exactly the same company in exactly the same 
plant under the exact same FDA approval, you buy that drug, the 
Prilosec in Manitoba, and it is $50.88. But if you go down to Mexico, 
you can buy exactly the same drug manufactured in exactly the same 
plant under the exact same FDA approval for $17.50.
  Let me read for my colleagues what George Halvorson who is the 
chairman of one of our larger HMOs in Minneapolis had to say, and this 
is a direct quote:

       If we could only get half the price break that Canadians 
     get, our plan alone could have saved our members nearly $35 
     million last year.

  Madam Speaker, I estimate that in Medicaid alone, the U.S. Government 
could save $1.8 billion if we could get half the break that Canadians 
are currently getting for exactly the same drugs. This is not to 
mention the fact that we currently have 68 million prescriptions filled 
each year by the VA. Madam Speaker, we are talking about billions and 
billions of dollars that we could save if we would simply allow free 
market principles to work.

[[Page H361]]

  We currently have what is called the North American Free Trade 
Agreement. We allow goods and services to move freely across our 
borders. In some cases we lose. Sometimes our farmers, sometimes our 
hog producers, sometimes our ranchers are upset about the North 
American Free Trade Agreement. But it is interesting. The one thing 
that our own government blocks our own consumers from getting across 
the border is prescription drugs. In fact, when some of my constituents 
went up and actually used mail order to order prescription drugs from 
Canada, the FDA sent a letter to them. It is a very threatening letter. 
I would like to read just a couple of sentences from it. It says:

       Dear Consumer:
       This letter is to advise you that the Minneapolis District 
     of the United States Food and Drug Administration has 
     examined a package addressed to you containing drugs which 
     appear to be unapproved for use in the United States.

  Appear to be unapproved. These are the same drugs in the same boxes 
manufactured in the same plants. It is ridiculous. The problem is FDA 
interference. The story of Minnesota seniors is being repeated all 
across the country.
  The solution is a bill that I have introduced, H.R. 3240, the Drug 
Import Fairness Act, which is a bipartisan solution. We have literally 
Members from what some would say the far right and the far left who 
have joined together on this bill to put it clear to the FDA that they 
should not stand between our consumers and particularly senior citizens 
and lower drug prices. That effort has been joined now by a group out 
of Utah called the Life Extension Foundation. If Members have not 
received it yet, they will be receiving from our office or theirs a 
pamphlet which talks about the problem, explains the problem and then 
explains the solution.
  Madam Speaker, let me just close by saying this. In the age of NAFTA, 
our own FDA should not stand between our citizens and lower 
prescription drug prices. Particularly, we should not allow the FDA to 
stand between our senior citizens and lower drug prices. These are FDA 
approved drugs. We have the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is 
time for Congress to take action to bring American prices down to the 
competitive world market prices.

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