[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 9, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E441-E442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE VOLUNTARY STATE DISCOUNT PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN ACT OF 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 9, 2011

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce, along with my 
colleague,

[[Page E442]]

Representative Chellie Pingree, the Voluntary State Discount 
Prescription Drug Plan Act of 2011--a completely voluntary, commonsense 
way to offer prescription drugs at affordable prices to millions of 
Americans currently struggling without prescription drug coverage.
  With the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, millions of uninsured 
Americans will gain access to health insurance and prescription drug 
coverage. However, the expansion of coverage won't happen until 2014.
  In the meantime, high prescription drug costs will continue to be a 
burden for millions of Americans. 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. 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 to 
date not been embraced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services.
  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 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 of 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, 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.
  Mr. 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. I hope Congress seizes 
this opportunity, and I invite my colleagues' support.

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