[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             THE HIGH COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as I have on numerous 
occasions, to speak out about the high cost of prescription drugs for 
families all across America, and particularly for older Americans who 
are regularly using the largest number of medications on a daily basis.
  I have for over a year now been leading an effort in Michigan when 
speaking with seniors, getting letters from them, have set up a hotline 
for people to call and share their concerns and stories about the high 
cost of their medication.
  As a result of that effort over the past year, I have come to this 
floor sharing stories and reading letters from my constituents urging 
that we pass a comprehensive Medicare benefit for prescription drugs, 
one that is voluntary, one that is within Medicare, and will help our 
seniors pay for the costs of their medications.
  Once again, today I rise to read a letter. I would like to read a 
letter that says, ``Dear Debbie, I don't call this fair for an elder 
citizen on fixed income to pay $2,100 a year to just stay alive. I need 
my heart patches every day to make my ticker keep going, my inhaler so 
I can breath, and pain medication to help me with the daily pain of my 
bones. Thank you for listening to me. Sincerely, Beatrice J. Homan.''
  Mrs. Homan has also reported to me that she often does not buy her 
medications because she cannot afford them.
  I have now twice taken busloads of seniors from Michigan across the 
bridge to Canada to demonstrate the dramatic differences in costs 
between our country and Canada. I would like to share with the Members, 
because we just took a trip a week ago, how we could make a dramatic 
difference for Beatrice Homan and the seniors of Michigan if we were to 
first allow prescriptions to be purchased by our pharmacists at a lower 
price in Canada, if in fact that is available, and secondly, if we were 
to lower the costs of prescription drugs in our country and provide a 
Medicare benefit for our seniors so that they can have real health care 
coverage.
  We have Medicare that has been set up since 1965, but it does not 
cover the way health care is provided today. Under Medicare, we could 
go in the hospital and have an operation. We could get the 
prescriptions in the hospital. But most seniors and most of us are 
going to outpatient clinics, getting home health care, needing our 
prescriptions on an outpatient basis. That is what Medicare does not 
cover. It is outdated. It needs to be fixed. With the greatest economy 
we have had in over a generation, we can do it if we have the political 
will to make it happen.
  I have had the opportunity to take our seniors from Michigan to 
Canada, and let me give an example of the differences in the costs.
  Barbara Morgan normally pays $273 a month for her medications, and 
just crossing the bridge, 5 minutes across the bridge, we lower the 
cost from $273 to $31.83, a savings of 88 percent.
  Lonnie Stone normally spends $800. We were able to get his same 
medications, FDA-approved, American-made, in Canada for $268, a savings 
of 67 percent.
  Dorothy Price normally pays $477. We were able to cut her costs by 66 
percent, to $163.20.
  Ilene Carr normally pays $1,071.30. We were able to cut that by 50 
percent, cut in half a $1,000 prescription drug bill.
  We can do better than this. We are fortunate in our country to have 
wonderful public facilities in which research is done that our drug 
companies use to then produce products for the market. We are fortunate 
that we encourage that through taxpayers' funded tax credits to help 
with that research. We help to fund that, and yet in this country we 
are paying more than any other country in the world. Every other 
country is sold these same drugs, American-made, helped to be 
subsidized by the American taxpayers for less.
  We can do better, Mr. Speaker, and I would strongly urge my 
colleagues to make prescription drug coverage under Medicare a 
priority.

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