[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT NEEDED NOW

  (Mrs. THURMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, today we have heard about the 24 million 
people we supposedly helped last week. Well, let us talk about the 39 
million people we could help that are under Medicare.
  Let me just explain to you that this is a dollars and cents issue for 
us. We are grappling with the trust fund on Medicare and making sure 
that the expenses are kept down. Well, there is one way you can do 
that, and the one way you can do that is to make sure that seniors get 
their prescription drugs.
  Let me just give you an example of what somebody wrote to me in my 
district. ``My mom and dad do not have prescription drugs coverage, 
therefore must pay full price for all of their drugs. Mom has been 
cutting her cholesterol pill, Zocor, in half, so it will last two 
months. The pharmacist says they will not be effective and she is 
endangering her health. The prescription drug went from $80.49 at the 
beginning of last year to $95.99.''
  What do you think the cost of this is when this woman ends up in the 
hospital because she cannot take the medicine that is going to keep her 
healthy?
  We need to make sure Members are signing this discharge petition so 
we can have an honest debate on this floor to help the 39 million 
people, and that number is growing.

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