[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


ON THE INTRODUCTION OF VOLUNTARY STATE DISCOUNT PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN 
                              ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2007

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the 
Voluntary State Discount Prescription Drug Plan Act of 2007--a 
completely voluntary, commonsense way to offer prescription drugs at 
affordable prices to millions of Americans currently struggling without 
prescription drug coverage.
  This legislation would enable States, at their option, to create 
State discount prescription drug plans that extend Medicaid-negotiated 
rebates to citizens up to 300 percent of the poverty line and thereby 
provide discounts of roughly 40 percent to 50 million uninsured 
Americans--all at their local pharmacies, all at no cost to the Federal 
or State Government. Just like HMOs and insurance plans in the private 
sector, participating States would simply leverage their purchasing 
power to secure better prices on behalf of their citizens. In that 
regard, our bill would explicitly authorize recent prescription drug 
affordability initiatives in States like Maryland, Maine, and Vermont 
by removing barriers that have needlessly blocked these efforts in the 
past.
  In 2005, my home State of Maryland passed a State discount 
prescription drug plan law with the near unanimous support of our 
General Assembly and our then Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich. 
Unfortunately, that plan was subsequently blocked by the Bush 
administration's Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, for 
reasons that have never been credibly explained. As a result, the broad 
bipartisan will of our State has been thwarted and hundreds of 
thousands of Marylanders have been deprived needed access to affordable 
prescription drugs. In fact, according to an analysis of U.S. Census 
data conducted by Families USA and the Center for Policy Alternatives, 
an estimated half million Marylanders would become eligible for 
immediate prescription drug price relief under this legislation.
  Since these plans are created at the State level and don't impose any 
cost on the Federal Government, we don't believe States should have to 
ask the Federal Government's permission in order to establish them. For 
that reason, our legislation makes clear that Maryland--and any other 
State that chooses--can set up a State discount prescription drug plan 
without petitioning CMS for a section 1115 waiver. Additionally, since 
these plans rely on government purchasing power rather than government 
outlays to produce price discounts, we remove CMS's somewhat contrived 
requirement that states expend some undefined amount of their own money 
as part of these plans. Beyond modest administrative costs, it simply 
isn't necessary.
  Madam Speaker, this legislation represents a significant opportunity 
to empower States to deliver prescription drug affordability to 
millions of our citizens who don't currently have it--at no cost to the 
Federal Government. I hope Congress seizes this opportunity, and I 
invite my colleagues' support.

                          ____________________