[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, when we were off a couple of months ago 
debating the Medicare bill, we were told it was going to cost $400 
billion. We found out all along everybody knew it would cost $550 
billion, and nobody was told the absolute truth. Most importantly, you 
were not told. Not a single new benefit has gone to a senior citizen 
and the taxpayers are stuck with another $150 billion hit. Now 
everybody wants to talk about the benefit that is going to come with a 
discount card giving a 25 percent discount. The costs of prescription 
drugs at the pharmacy are rising on average 19 percent a year for the 
last 7 years. So what you are going to see is what we all know happens 
at Neiman Marcus right before a sale, prices get jacked up as high as 
they can and then they offer a sale to give you a discount from the 
inflated prices. That is what is happening to prescription drugs right 
now at the pharmacy.
  Seniors on average pay 40 to 50 percent more for their prescription 
drugs than people in Canada and Europe for the same drugs that have 
been developed here in the United States. What we need is a 
reimportation bill to bring the prices down, make them competitive, and 
get world-class drugs at world market prices rather than the 50 percent 
inflated prices that we pay here in America.

                          ____________________