[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S751-S753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AFFORDABILITY

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, for many months now I and other Members of

[[Page S752]]

the Senate have been coming to the floor of this body to talk about the 
need for prescription drug coverage for our older people under 
Medicare.
  We have been going through case histories of stories we have been 
hearing from our States. I have been describing the many older people I 
am hearing from in Oregon where after they are finished paying their 
prescription drug bill, they only have a couple hundred dollars for the 
rest of the month to live on.
  I talked about instances where older people at home in Oregon are 
actually breaking their Lipitor pills. Lipitor is an important 
cholesterol-lowering drug. A lot of the seniors at home in Oregon can't 
afford to take these vital medicines, and they are actually having to 
break them in half in order to try to meet their health care needs. It 
is just outrageous to think that in a country as rich and as powerful 
and good as ours so many of our seniors walk on this economic 
tightrope.
  I have come to the floor repeatedly over the last few months to talk 
about the need for bipartisan legislation that would address the needs 
of older people and secure important Medicare coverage for them.
  I believe there is now genuine interest in reconciling the several 
bills before the Senate on this issue and a real opportunity to enact 
good legislation that can generate overwhelming support in this body 
and get the senior citizens of this country the help they need.
  I have spoken, for example, with the Democratic leader, Senator 
Daschle, several times this week on this subject. He is very interested 
in bringing Senators with varying approaches on this issue together so 
we find the common ground to get help for older people.
  I especially want to praise my colleague from Maine, our friend, 
Senator Snowe. She and I have worked together for 14 months now--for 
more than a year starting with the budget resolution last year--to come 
up with a bipartisan plan to address this enormous need of older 
people.
  Before I describe some of the new cases we are getting from seniors 
across the country, I will talk about some areas where I think there is 
common ground, the common ground I have heard Senator Daschle and 
others talking about in recent days. For example, I think Senators 
overwhelmingly believe there ought to be a significant role for 
marketplace forces in the delivery of this benefit. Certainly we differ 
about the details. We recognize that. I will not have the last word on 
this subject. I think virtually all Senators believe there ought to be 
a significant role for marketplace forces on this issue.
  Second, I think there is overwhelming support for the proposition 
that this program ought to be a voluntary program. Senators and others 
have learned the lesson from the catastrophic care bill when a lot of 
the older people in this country said: This is something I am already 
getting; I don't want it required; I think my money can be spent better 
elsewhere.
  This time, I see Senators with varying political philosophies 
desiring to make sure this benefit is voluntary.
  I think Senators overwhelmingly are interested in making sure this 
prescription drug coverage for older people is consistent with long-
term Medicare reform. Many want to have comprehensive Medicare reform 
in this session of Congress. It may still be doable. I prefer going 
that route. If it is not possible to have comprehensive Medicare 
reform, I can tell Members that Senator Snowe and I have teamed up over 
the last several months in an effort to make sure the prescription drug 
coverage program is consistent with long-term Medicare reform.
  Finally, we want to make sure this benefit is adequately funded. In 
the last session of Congress, 54 Members of the Senate voted for the 
Snowe-Wyden amendment with respect to funding. We brought together 
Senator Wellstone, Senator Abraham, Senator Kennedy, Senator Santorum, 
Senators of all political philosophies of both political parties. Mr. 
President, 54 voted for allocating dollars for a prescription drug 
program. There is an opportunity now to find the common ground.
  I want to describe a few of the accounts I have heard from at home 
that made it clear to me why it is so important that Senators come 
together and enact this program for the elderly. I heard recently from 
an elderly woman in Deschutes County in central Oregon. She is 83 years 
old; she lives at her sister's. She and her 79-year-old husband take 12 
drugs to cover diabetes, hypertension, and a variety of ailments. Their 
sole source of income is Social Security. They spend nearly 25 percent 
of their income now on prescription drugs.
  In Clatsop County, a retired couple in their seventies from 
Warrenton, OR, is spending $450 a month on prescription drugs. If they 
have another increase in their supplemental insurance--and we all know 
the vast majority of seniors have these supplemental policies, and we 
all know in almost every instance they go up--this older couple has 
told me they will have to stop taking their medication altogether.
  An older woman in Coos County, aged 75, getting by on only $813 a 
month, is spending well over $200 of that $800 on prescription 
medicine.
  I could go on with these cases. I have done that on more than 20 
occasions in the last few months on the floor of the Senate, trying 
continually to bring before the body 3 or 4 cases that highlight how 
great the need is and how important it is we address this issue.

  I believe the President of the United States wants this issue 
addressed in a bipartisan way. I have talked with him about this 
subject. He recognizes how urgent it is that seniors get this coverage. 
I think he made it clear in the State of the Union Address he wants to 
work with Members of Congress of both political parties to get this 
done.
  We have accomplished a great deal in the last 14 months. Fourteen 
months ago when Senator Snowe and I brought this issue to the Budget 
Committee, I think we were essentially looked at as well-meaning souls 
but people who just did not have much of a prospect of seeing this go 
forward. Now we see the issue of prescription drug coverage as one of 
the two or three most pressing domestic issues. The American people are 
disgusted.
  Our job now--and I commend Senator Daschle, but I know there are a 
number of colleagues on the other side of the aisle who feel the same 
way--is to reconcile these various bills. We want to make sure we build 
on private health insurance.
  There has been a lot of talk in the last few days about whether 
private health insurance companies would be interested in this program. 
Having talked with them at home in Oregon, they are definitely going to 
be interested in this program because what we envisage doing, what 
essentially all the bills envisage doing, is having the Government pick 
up the prescription drug portion of a senior's private health insurance 
program. That is what is going to go on here. We will not set up new 
bureaucracies and redtape. We will be looking at an effort to have this 
program pick up the prescription drug portion of a senior's private 
health insurance. We want to use marketplace forces to the greatest 
possible extent. We want older people to have bargaining power in the 
marketplace.
  Right now, Medicare does not cover prescriptions, but the older 
person who walks into a pharmacy perhaps in Rhode Island, Oregon, or 
any other part of the country and does not have prescription drug 
coverage, in effect, has to subsidize the big buyers of prescription 
medicine. If, for example, you are a younger worker and have the good 
fortune of having a company health plan that covers prescription drugs, 
that company plan can go out and negotiate a discount. The senior, 
without any coverage, walks into the pharmacy, doesn't get that same 
rate, and in effect has to actually subsidize those who do have the 
good fortune of having a health plan where they can have some real 
bargaining power. That is not right. Vulnerable seniors deserve a fair 
shake. They deserve to be able to secure their medicine at an 
affordable price.
  I believe the cases I brought to the floor of the Senate tonight 
again show how urgent the need is for this benefit. I believe there are 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle who want to reconcile the various 
bills that have been introduced on this issue. I have teamed up with 
Senator Snowe on this matter now for 14 months. We don't think we have 
the last word on this issue. We want to work with colleagues to find 
the common ground, to get the help to

[[Page S753]]

older people that they deserve. Senator Daschle has told me a number of 
times recently that is what he wants to do. I believe colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle wish to do so as well.

  The hour is late. I do not want to keep the Senate in any longer than 
necessary, but I intend to keep coming back to the floor, bringing to 
the Senate these truly poignant cases of how great the need is in this 
country to cover prescription drug costs of the Nation's older people.
  I look forward to working with the Presiding Officer of the Senate, a 
new Member of this body, and one from a very special family, in my 
opinion, because his father was so kind to me as a new Senator. I know 
he shares many of the same concerns I have, that we address this issue 
in a bipartisan fashion.
  I am going to keep coming back to the floor of the Senate talking 
about why this is so important and why it is so important for the 
Senate to bring these various bills together.
  With that, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________