[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17289]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening as I have done on 
many, many occasions to talk about the most important quality-of-life 
issue for seniors in my State and around the country, and that is the 
issue of prescription drugs and the high costs that they are having to 
pay. Not only do we know that seniors who have no insurance are paying 
twice as much as others when they go to the drug store and get their 
medications, but we have a health care system that has been in place 
now for 35 years, a very successful health care system called Medicare 
that simply needs to be modernized to cover prescription drugs so that 
our seniors can continue to get the promise of health care that we made 
to them 35 years ago.
  I have been asking people in my district and around the State of 
Michigan to write letters that I will share on the floor of the House 
of Representatives. Once again this evening, I wish to do that, to read 
a letter from Annabelle Lewis from Hillsdale, Michigan, who writes 
about her own struggles to pay for her prescriptions.
  She says:

       I stopped taking the Provachol 20 milligrams for high 
     cholesterol in January 1999, having previously cut pills in 
     half. In December 1999, a year later, my cholesterol was 339. 
     Having received some free samples, my cholesterol came down 
     to 198. Presently this medication is $122.99 per month, not 
     including $30.58 for Estrogen replacement. Medicare part B 
     deductible this month has reduced my Social Security to $505. 
     This covers house expenses with little left over. Having this 
     medication available certainly would be less expensive than a 
     nursing home should I have a stroke. I am able to continue 
     working as a nurse but I find it very difficult due to my 
     depressed state. I hope this information is useful and you 
     will be blessed in your efforts.
       Sincerely, thank you, Annabelle Lewis.

  Under the plan that I am supporting for Medicare coverage, a 
voluntary, optional, comprehensive Medicare benefit we would add to 
Medicare, Annabelle Lewis would be saving $438, important dollars, the 
difference between eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, paying the 
utility bill, having the quality of life that I am sure as a nurse she 
has worked hard all these years to acquire and now finds herself having 
to struggle with issues of cholesterol, whether or not she will be 
healthy or have a stroke.
  Seniors in our country deserve better. I know right now with all the 
confusion and all the numbers and all the private plans and proposals 
that are out there, the real bottom line that all of this is about is 
the fact that the prescription drug companies do not want the 39 
million seniors of this country to be organized under Medicare and have 
the clout to get a reduced price, just like anybody else in any other 
insurance plan. Coming together they would have the combined clout to 
get a group discount of great magnitude. That is the real fight about 
Medicare. That is the fight we are in right now. Do we just simply 
modernize Medicare, or do we set up some complicated system with 
insurance companies that say they do not want to cover prescription 
drugs? And they do not intend to cover prescription drugs, saying 
instead it is a hollow promise to go that direction.
  I would urge, Mr. Speaker, that this House come together and 
recognize and celebrate Medicare, which is a 35-year success story for 
our country, 35 years of health care for seniors, for the disabled in 
this country, that only does not work now because we do not cover the 
new way that health care has provided today, which is simply 
prescription drugs. If we simply modernize Medicare, we will be able to 
continue to keep the promise.
  It seems to me in these great economic times, we have two important 
challenges: we need to pay our bills and we need to keep our promises. 
The promise of Medicare is something that our seniors are counting on. 
We need to pass a comprehensive, voluntary prescription drug plan now.

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