[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 45 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2096-H2097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           LOWERING THE COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sherwood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about an important 
issue that more and more Americans are concerned about, and that is the 
high cost of prescription drugs here in the United States. I want to 
show a chart that reflects just how severe this problem is.
  This chart talks about one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in 
the United States, called Prilosec. It is a drug that deals with a 
gastrointestinal problem of too much acid. If you buy that drug, a 30-
day supply in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it will sell for about $99.95. 
Now, if you happen to be vacationing in Manitoba, in Winnipeg, 
Manitoba, you take exactly that same prescription into a prescription 
supply of some kind, a drugstore, you will be able to buy that drug for 
$50.88, exactly the same drug, made in exactly the same plant, same 
dosage, everything. But, interestingly enough, if you take that same 
prescription into a drugstore in Guadalajara, Mexico, you can buy that 
drug for $17.50.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the day and age of NAFTA, the North American 
Free Trade Agreement. Goods and services are supposed to be able to go 
across our borders freely. That is true of almost every other product, 
except drugs.
  We are not alone in saying that prescription drugs have gone up a 
lot. Our own estimates by our own government say that over the last 4 
years, prescription drugs here in the United States have gone up 56 
percent. Last year

[[Page H2097]]

alone they went up 16 percent. Talking about these differences, just 
between Minnesota and Canada, one of the HMOs in Minneapolis estimates 
if they could simply buy their drugs for their HMO Members, 
subscribers, in Manitoba, they could save over $30 million a year for 
their subscribers. We are talking about real money.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that we need to do something. The Canadian 
government itself has done its own study, and this is the latest study 
comparing drug prices in the United States to drug prices in Canada. 
Again, this is for exactly the same drugs. They estimate the last year 
that they had the figures that the differences are over 50 percent, the 
difference between the drug prices in Canada and Mexico.
  There is another group out of Utah, the Life Extension Foundation; 
and every Member, if they will contact my office, we will send them one 
of these brochures. They have done a beautiful job of differentiating 
the price differences between us and Europe, for example.
  Let me read some differences in drug prices. A very commonly 
prescribed drug, Premarin, in the United States two capsules will sell 
for $14.98 on average. In Europe, they pay only $4.25. Synthroid, 
another commonly prescribed drug, the United States price, $13.84. In 
Europe they can buy it for $2.95 equivalent. Coumadin, this is a drug 
that my dad takes, a blood thinner, in the United States that drug 
sells for $30.25. In the European market it sells for $2.85. Mr. 
Speaker, this goes on and on and on.
  Now, I believe the drug companies have to be allowed to make a 
reasonable profit. We understand that they have to have reasonable 
profits if they are going to plow it back into research. But the 
unvarnished truth is that American consumers are paying most of the 
freight for the research being done; and worse than that, we are paying 
for most of the profit.
  There is an answer. I have a bill, H.R. 3240, which would allow 
importation of drugs that are approved by the FDA.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that we should do more to make prescription 
drugs available to seniors who cannot afford them. But we should not be 
foolish enough to do nothing to make those drugs more affordable for 
all Americans. We should not allow our own FDA to stand between 
Americans and lower drug prices.
  I hope all Members will join me in supporting and cosponsoring H.R. 
3240.
  Once again, Mr. Speaker, I remind Members if they would like a copy 
of this brochure, they simply have to call my office. We will send it 
out to them. It explains better than I can why it is important that we 
allow markets and competition to bring drug prices into line here in 
the United States.

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