[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 17, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR AMERICA'S SENIORS

  (Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, let me start and indicate how important 
it is for us to not forget our seniors when it comes to prescription 
drug coverage.
  Our seniors right now represent 34 percent of the prescriptions that 
are dished out every single year.

                              {time}  1015

  Out of every dollar, 42 cents represents the amount of money that 
they dish out. Forty-two percent. Despite that, it is expected that 
sales and benefits of pharmaceutical companies will be over 18 percent. 
So at the expense of our seniors, the pharmaceutical companies continue 
to make these huge profits.
  It is up to us to make sure we do what we can to make sure that we 
allow that opportunity for our seniors to have accessibility and be 
able to have affordable coverage when it comes to prescription drug 
coverage.
  We know that those same pharmaceutical companies sell those 
prescriptions elsewhere, throughout the world and throughout Europe, at 
lower prices. These are the same products that are sold to our seniors 
here at higher prices. So it is up to us to push forward a prescription 
drug coverage and allow Medicare to cover the prescriptions.

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