[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E367]]


                  COST-CONTAINMENT: THE BEST MEDICINE

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 16, 2004

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member wishes to commend AARP CEO 
Bill Novelli for sending a letter Monday to the heads of the leading 
pharmaceutical companies, requesting their cooperation in holding down 
drug price increases.
  While this Member has questions about limiting drug price increases 
to an amount no greater than the level of inflation as advocated in 
this letter, this Member generally supports several of the concepts 
mentioned by Mr. Novelli, including prescription drug reimportation and 
drug efficacy studies.
  Clearly, millions of Americans are finding prescription drug 
reimportation from Canada and other countries to be a viable and 
necessary alternative to high-priced drugs in the United States. The 
number of those Americans is growing every day. It would be wrong for 
Members of Congress to ignore this reality and to ignore the excessive 
cost of prescription drugs in America.
  Large pharmaceutical manufacturers have long been gouging American 
consumers by charging substantially more, in some cases up to 90 
percent more, for prescription drugs sold in the United States than in 
Canada and other industrialized countries. Increasing numbers of 
Americans understandably refuse to be exploited by the pharmaceutical 
industry any longer. The exploitation of American consumers must end. 
The excuse that most of the world's pharmaceutical research and 
development takes place in America does not justify the continued 
degree of cost-shifting onto the backs of American consumers. Profit 
levels of American, foreign, and multi-national pharmaceutical firms 
are among the highest in the business world, as is the level of their 
advertising budgets and inducements offered to prescribing physicians.
  The reimportation debate is not a battle of right versus left. It is 
a battle of right versus wrong. It is simply wrong to require Americans 
to pay the world's highest prices for prescription drugs, so they 
thereby can subsidize consumers everywhere else on earth to generate 
the research, advertising and profit revenues for pharmaceutical 
companies.
  As a Member of Congress serving in the people's House, this Member 
has a responsibility to do what is right for Nebraskans and all 
Americans. This Member supports prescription drug reimporation because 
Americans deserve access to quality drugs at world market prices and 
reimportation seems to be the only solution immediately available to 
reduce the gross overcharge of American consumers for prescription 
drugs.
  This Member is also supportive of drug efficacy studies. This Member 
offered an amendment to the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and 
Education appropriations bill, requiring the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality (AHRQ to spend $12 million to conduct research on 
the clinical appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of prescription 
drugs. This language was maintained and included in the final 
appropriations measure, which was signed into law.
  Americans deserve the best health care for their dollar. It is 
essential for clinicians, patients, health plans, insurers, and those 
financing health care services to have access to credible, objective 
information on the benefits, risks, and costs of prescription drugs so 
they can make informed decisions about the prescriptions they consume 
and prescribe. Americans need information regarding the effectiveness, 
quality, and cost-effectiveness of new drugs, in comparison with 
existing alternatives, especially when new drugs can cost much more 
than those now on the market. Understanding which medicines work the 
best for which patients and at what costs, as well as understanding how 
to administer and monitor medication use in a way that ensures 
patients' safety is of critical importance to the health care system.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, this Member encourages measures to control 
the outrageous costs of lifesaving prescription drugs. This is the best 
medicine for Nebraskans and all Americans.

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