[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PAUL WELLSTONE MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION EQUITY ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                           HON. PAUL C. BROUN

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 2008

  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, regarding the H.R. 1424, the 
Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, I have previously shared with 
my colleagues in this body my serious concerns with several provisions 
in this Act. I have stated my sincere conviction that this bill, if 
signed into law, will result in increased overall health care costs, 
increased mental health costs, and decreased mental health coverage for 
many Americans. Let me share just a few more problems with this well 
meaning but misguided legislation.
  I am concerned with the use of a 33 percent increase in the Medicaid 
prescription drug rebate as one of the offsets to pay for this 
legislation. This represents a significant increase. In fact, it hits 
the innovator pharmaceutical companies almost double what we might 
think. While we might have the cost of mental health parity offset by 
about $1.7 billion over 5 years, that is $1.7 billion to the Federal 
Government. The cost to the research pharmaceutical companies is nearly 
double that amount because their rebate is split between the Federal 
Government and the States. This is a double hit to an industry that 
Americans rely on to find life-saving treatments for cancer, 
Parkinson's disease, HIV/AIDS and mental illness.
  Furthermore, as a physician I have seen first-hand the stifling 
impact price controls have on innovation and who loses in that 
equation--patients do. We only have to look to Europe as recently as 
the 1990s for evidence of the failure of drug price controls. Once the 
world's leader in research and development for new cures, Europe has 
been surpassed by the United States who had committed 24 percent more 
to pharmaceutical R&D by 2002. Therefore, I urge the sponsors of this 
bill to find a more equitable offset and not one that could have such a 
negative impact on a single industry.

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