[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 24 (Thursday, March 7, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H770-H771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ASSISTING VETERANS WITH PRESCRIPTION DRUG COPAYMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues in 
this House to sign on to a bill which I have introduced, H.R. 2820. 
H.R. 2820 is a bill that would help our veterans.
  In the early part of February, 2002, a decision was made to increase 
the prescription co-payment for veterans from $2 a prescription to $7 a 
prescription. To me this is an unacceptable action and it hurts our 
veterans, many of whom live on fixed incomes and simply cannot absorb 
this increased cost.

[[Page H771]]

  To put it in perspective, the Veterans Hospital in southern Ohio, 
where I serve, tells me that the average veteran who gets a 
prescription medication there on average gets 10 or more prescriptions. 
So if we take $7 a prescription and we multiply it by 10, that is $70 
per month. Many of these veterans receive a 3-month supply of 
medications at a time. Three times $70 is $210. If I multiply the cost 
of a 1-month supply of medication at $7 per prescription for 10 
prescriptions, that is $840 per year.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is an unnecessary burden to place upon our 
veterans. We hear a lot of lofty rhetoric in this Chamber about how we 
appreciate the fact that so many American citizens are willing to serve 
in our military, and many of them give their lives and limb in order to 
protect our freedoms.
  It seems so inappropriate at this time in our Nation's history to 
place this additional burden upon our veterans. So I have introduced 
H.R. 2820. I have over 75 cosponsors at this time, bipartisan 
cosponsors, and I am happy to say the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) has 
introduced this legislation with me. This legislation is very simple. 
It would simply return the cost of the co-payment for a prescription 
drug from the $7 that has been imposed down to the $2 level where it 
has been. It would freeze the co-payment at the $2 per prescription 
level for the next 5 years.
  Mr. Speaker, surely when we can find the resources to give a $15 
billion bailout to our airline industry, surely when we can find the 
resources to give tax breaks, surely when we can find the resources to 
do a whole host of other things in this Chamber, we can find the 
resources that will enable us to keep from imposing this additional 
burden upon our Nation's veterans.
  So, once again, I ask all of my colleagues of both parties in this 
House to simply cosponsor H.R. 2820 so that we can remove this burden 
which has been placed upon our veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to mention another burden for 
our veterans. For category 7 veterans, there is a proposal that we 
would place upon them an annual $1,500 deductible when they go to our 
veterans' health centers and clinics and hospitals to receive medical 
attention. This also seems like something that we should take action to 
prevent in this Chamber. I urge my colleagues, this is something that 
we can do. We ought to do it. I believe if Members talk to veterans 
around the country, this is something that they are keenly aware of and 
keenly object to.
  We can solve this problem regarding the prescription co-pay by 
passing this very simple but important piece of legislation, H.R. 2820.

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