[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2701-H2702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the President's Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, Secretary Thompson, who has previously said 
he will not allow the reimportation of less expensive FDA-approved 
drugs from Canada or any other country, deeming them unsafe, of course 
his assistant secretary, Mr. Hubbard, when questioned before a 
congressional committee, could not document one single instance of 
safety problems with Canadian drugs, yet can document thousands of 
problems with the supply chain here in the United States because of a 
virtually uncontrolled wholesale drug market.
  So it really is not the issue of safety. It is the issue of the 
profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. They make their profits 
all in the United States, and that allows them to sell drugs very 
cheaply in other countries, and they say that is necessary to protect 
their investment in new technologies and new drugs.
  I certainly want to see new drugs and new technologies developed, but 
why should Americans only pay for those investments? And that is the 
system they are attempting to perpetuate, and there is also of course 
the issue that it is only recently that the pharmaceutical industry has 
been allowed to advertise on television and now they are spending 
upwards of 6, $7 billion a year on promotion, which of course drives up 
the cost of drugs, and I am

[[Page H2702]]

not quite sure of the value what the little purple pill ads or many of 
those other ads on television are, and I think consumers would be happy 
to consult with their doctors rather than 30-second ads if they could 
see the price of their drugs go down. Drugs are going up at about 10 
times the current rate of inflation on an annual basis. They are simply 
not affordable for most Americans.
  So yesterday Secretary Thompson announced that the Maginot Line that 
this administration has created to defend the profits of the 
pharmaceutical industry, the Maginot Line that said this was an issue 
of safety, Americans should not be allowed to reimport lifesaving drugs 
at a fraction of the cost, that they are available in this country, he 
predicted it will crumble. He predicted that we will see the 
reimportation of drugs.
  Why is that? What happened to his safety concerns? I think the safety 
concern that has been elevated in their minds right now is the 
reelection of George Bush who read the polls. Eighty-five percent of 
the people cannot understand how it is free trade when we export 
American jobs, but there is no free trade issue when we prohibit the 
importation of less expensive pharmaceuticals from Canada, our 
neighbor, that our FDA approved.
  And then today in a further indication that their Maginot Line, their 
protection of this industry, is crumbling quickly, we have two major 
drug chains, CVS and Walgreens, who have both come out in favor of 
reimportation. They do not want to see individuals reimporting. They 
want to protect their businesses. They want to see that they and other 
wholesale purchasers can go to Canada where it they can purchase drugs 
more cheaply from a Canadian wholesaler by far than they can purchase 
them directly from a pharmaceutical company here in the United States. 
As big as they are, as much as they buy, the price they are charged is 
significantly higher than the price at which these drugs are sold in 
Canada.
  So the bottom line here is we have people in this country suffering. 
They cannot afford the drugs they need. Seniors in my district dividing 
pills in half, couples sitting down at beginning of the month and 
deciding who will get their pills this month and who will not, despite 
their jeopardy to their health, and the Bush administration says they 
are worried about the health and safety of Oregonians or the American 
public. Their health and safety is definably hurt by the fact they 
cannot afford lifesaving drugs. And since they cannot document a single 
instance of problems from Canada, then let us allow Americans to 
reimport drugs from Canada, and I would be happy if they could do that 
through their pharmacies because pharmacies are a key part of this 
chain and consumer information.
  The other thing we could do, and of course the Bush administration is 
adamantly opposed to but who knows, maybe they will change there too, 
is negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of the American people like 
every other civilized democracy on earth does for all their citizens. 
There is no other country on earth that allows the pharmaceutical 
industry to leverage these extraordinary extortionate prices for 
lifesaving drugs out of their citizens. Only the Government of the 
United States. But, amazingly, the Bush administration got a clause 
inserted in the so-called Medicare prescription drug benefit that 
prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices, prohibits 
the government from negotiating, not mandating, negotiating lower drug 
prices; unlike every other civilized democracy on earth; unlike the 
private insurance industry which can and does negotiate discounts; 
unlike the Veterans Administration, which can and does and gets a good 
deal for our vets, negotiates discounts; and unlike what we mandate in 
Medicaid.
  But they are saying, no, we cannot do that elsewhere. There would be 
too much market power, meaning it would bring down the price too much. 
And then what will happen to the industry? The industry will then have 
to drive a little tougher deal with all these other countries. Instead 
of just saying, Oh, they will not pay, you will have to pay, everybody 
would share the cost of the development of new drugs and Americans 
could have access at lower prices.

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