[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3624-H3625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         STOP RISING PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION COSTS FOR SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, I came before this body about a month ago to 
address the problem of prescription medications, which my colleagues 
were addressing. I pledged at that time to go back to my district and 
carry the voices of the people of my district back to this body.
  What we did was we visited senior citizen centers; and we asked the 
people there, please share with us your

[[Page H3625]]

personal stories, your stories of what you are paying for prescription 
medications. We asked them to bring in their prescriptions, bring in 
their receipts. I can tell my colleagues the stories they told were 
tremendously moving.
  This pill bottle symbolizes the rising costs of prescription 
medication. Let me share with my colleagues a couple stories. A woman 
from Cinebar, Washington, who told me that they make just barely under 
$1,000 they receive in their Social Security and other benefits, but 
they pay well over $500, $500 in prescription medication costs.
  Another woman who had been monitoring the bimonthly bill she is 
paying for her medications for the last year, in one year, she saw a 20 
percent increase, a 20 percent increase in one year in the drug costs.
  My own father who shared with me that a pill he took 8 years ago had 
cost $1 a pill at that time now costs $4 a pill. That is 400 percent 
inflation in 8 years.
  Mr. Speaker, this body has been in session now about 16, 17 months. 
We have named post offices. We have done some worthy things for sure. 
But we have not addressed this absolutely critical issue.
  While American citizens are doing without the medications that their 
physicians have prescribed, this body has not acted. It is time to act. 
We are capable of acting.
  We need to do two things. We need to cap the rising costs of 
prescription medications. It is just not right for our senior citizens 
to travel to Mexico or to Canada to buy medications that they cannot 
afford within their own country, even though those very medications 
were funded by their taxpayer dollars.
  It is even worse when seniors who cannot make that journey do without 
the medications they need, medications to improve the quality of their 
lives, medications to save their lives. But they are faced with that 
terrible choice between paying the rent or paying for their medication.
  The current policy is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to put 
American citizens in that condition. It is not effective because, when 
seniors do without their medication today, we will pay higher costs 
tomorrow.
  So the first thing we must do is cap the rising costs of prescription 
medication, and there are various ways to do it. But I call on this 
body today. Let us work together. This is not a partisan issue. It does 
not matter whether a senior citizen is a Democrat or a senior citizen 
is a Republican. They are entitled to be able to take the medication 
their doctor says they need.
  The second thing we must do is establish a meaningful and affordable 
prescription Medicare benefit so that senior citizens can pool their 
resources and have predictable manageable costs when it comes time to 
get a prescription filled by their doctor.
  This pill bottle is filled, not just with receipts, but with personal 
stories, stories of people who are suffering, stories of people who 
depend on medication to alleviate that suffering.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon this body tonight and in the remaining 
months of this Congress to hear the pleas of the constituents of my 
district and the constituents throughout this country. Do not let 
prescription medications continue to grow larger as this pill bottle 
indicates. Let us work together; let us stop the rising escalation of 
prescription medication costs. Let us work together and establish a 
real and effective and affordable prescription medication benefit.

                          ____________________