[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 24, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H5796-H5797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, 2003 promises to be the third 
straight year of double-digit premium increases in health insurance. 
Guess what else is increasing at double-digit rates? Drug industry 
profits. In 2001 while the rest of the Nation was reeling from a 
plummeting economy, the drug industry boosted their profits by 33 
percent. In 2002, profits registered by the 10 drug companies on the 
Fortune 500 list were equal to more than half the $70 billion in 
profits netted by the entire roster of Fortune 500 companies. The top 
10 drug companies raked in profits 5\1/2\ times greater than the median 
for all industries. Over the last 20 years, the drug industry has been 
the most profitable industry in America.
  Return on investment, return on sales, return on equity, any way you 
measure it for the last 20 years, the drug industry has been the most 
profitable industry in America. And the drug industry has paid lower 
tax rates than any other industry in America. While the drug industry 
tells lawmakers that any limits on their profits will crimp innovation, 
they rarely acknowledge they spend more money on marketing their drugs 
than they do in research and development. They seldom mention, as I 
said, they pay the lowest tax rates of any industry in America; and

[[Page H5797]]

they seldom mention that the government and foundations do literally 
half of all their research and development that leads to new drugs. 
Families USA found that in 2001 the nine drug companies selling the 
most drugs to American seniors spent more money, in fact spent more 
than twice as much money on marketing and on administration than they 
did on research and development.
  The Republican majority would like us to accept a Medicare drug plan 
that is administered by profit-driven insurance companies, profit-
driven HMOs who will negotiate with profit-driven drug companies on 
behalf of our most vulnerable populations. It is not hard to see who is 
going to lose out in those negotiations, Mr. Speaker.
  This Republican plan will not guarantee seniors access to fair-priced 
drugs, it will not guarantee seniors access to health care, but you can 
bet the Republican plan will guarantee sustained double-digit profit 
margins for the Nation's drug companies. Responding to the public 
outrage at astronomical drug prices, the brand-name drug industry says 
not to worry, prescription drugs actually save money by reducing health 
care costs. That is true if prescription drugs were more reasonably 
priced, but under the Republican bill they will not be. There is no 
doubt prescription medicines reduce disability and can prevent 
illnesses which helps alleviate the need for other health care 
services. Unfortunately, though, Mr. Speaker, prescription drugs are 
priced so outrageously high that the costs associated with their 
increased use far outstrips any offsetting savings that might accrue. 
They are so high priced that millions of seniors and other Americans 
simply cannot afford them. The choice too often is between heat and 
their prescription drugs in winter. The choice too often is between 
food and prescription drugs. Even a miracle cure is worthless if people 
who need it cannot afford it.
  Skyrocketing drug costs are jeopardizing employer-sponsored health 
insurance, undercutting the financial security of seniors and absorbing 
an enormous and increasing share of limited Federal and State tax 
revenues devoted to health care. Something has to give.
  The reason the drug industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying 
for the Republican Medicare bill is because the industry knows that 
scattering seniors into multiple private plans undercuts the purchasing 
power that Medicare would provide. They know that squashing efforts to 
consolidate the purchasing power put 40 million seniors into one 
purchasing pool to save money. They know that mixing them up into 
smaller numbers in a multitude of plans enables the drug companies to 
sustain outrageous drug prices. That is why the drug companies lobbied 
so hard for the Republican prescription drug plan.
  The government negotiates price on everything else. When the 
Architect of the Capitol bought the carpet for this room, he did not 
take the manufacturer's word that a fair price would impair his fiber 
research. When the National Park Service buys park rangers' uniforms, 
he does not take the first bid that comes in.
  But not with prescription drugs. On prescription drugs, Republicans 
insist that the government take whatever price the drugmakers want to 
charge. If you want to talk about an incentive, that is an incentive. 
It is an incentive to turn the screws on American businesses who cannot 
afford the price of prescription drugs in their health plans, to turn 
the screws on American families and seniors who cannot afford the price 
of prescription drugs, and to turn the screws on government because 
taxpayers cannot afford the outrageous cost of these prescription 
drugs.
  I do not lose sleep, Mr. Speaker, over sustaining double-digit profit 
margins for the drug industry. I am concerned, however, at the millions 
of Americans who are shouldering the burden for these double-digit 
profit margins at the expense of their health. The average Medicare 
beneficiary earns $14,000 a year. Many of the prescription drugs 
seniors use cost about $100 per prescription per month. Mr. Speaker, 
the Republican plan written by the drug companies does not make sense 
for American seniors. I ask my colleagues to vote for the Dingell-
Rangel substitute which will provide drug coverage and will ratchet 
down prices so Americans no longer pay higher prices than any other 
country in the world for prescription drugs that are manufactured right 
here in the United States.

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