[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1917-1918]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    PRESCRIPTION DRUG AFFORDABILITY

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this morning the Democratic Policy 
Committee had a very important hearing on the issue of prescription 
drug coverage under Medicare for the Nation's older people. We heard 
from senior citizens, we heard from pharmacists, we heard from 
gerontologists, extraordinarily compelling testimony about why this 
prescription drug benefit is so important.
  Frankly, I do not think there is a single Member of the Senate, 
whether they are a Democrat or a Republican, who would not be moved by 
what we heard this morning. The senior citizens, as we hear again and 
again in townhall meetings at home, are pointing out that they cannot 
afford their prescription medicines.
  The pharmacists went into detail about how frustrated they are that 
so many of the older people lack bargaining power in the marketplace, 
bargaining power that can help them drive down the cost of their 
medicine. I thought the gerontologists we heard from this morning were 
very compelling in making the case of how so many of these drugs today 
can promote wellness and help seniors stay healthy and keep from 
racking up these extraordinary medical bills that are so often incurred 
and require hospitalization under what is called Part A of the Medicare 
program.
  It is so important that we come together as a body to address this 
issue. Senator Daschle, in particular, mentions to me on almost a daily 
basis how he wants to reconcile the various bills. He wants to reach 
out to colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In particular, I 
praise my colleague, Senator Snowe. She and I have worked for over a 
year on a bipartisan effort with respect to prescription drugs.
  I know colleagues on the other side of the aisle are interested in 
this issue as well. Frankly, I think any Member of the Senate who heard 
what the Democratic Policy Committee heard this morning had to have 
been moved by how great the need is for prescription drug coverage for 
seniors.
  One of the issues that has come up in recent days is this question of 
whether private insurance companies are going to be interested in this 
benefit and whether they are going to be willing to update their 
policies. We are hearing a lot of talk that maybe they are not and they 
are not going to come forward.
  I guess we are starting to hear from the same crowd who said doctors 
and hospitals in the early sixties were not going to participate in the 
Medicare program. It is preposterous to say private insurers are not 
going to participate once we go forward and enact a responsible 
bipartisan prescription drug program for seniors under Medicare.
  What the Snowe-Wyden legislation does is make it very clear the money 
that would be earmarked under our bipartisan bill would be made 
available to pick up the prescription drug portion of a senior 
citizen's private health insurance bill.
  The Presiding Officer, who has great expertise in this area as well, 
knows that the vast majority of seniors have

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these private policies--Medigap policies, HMO policies, a variety of 
private policies today.
  I am absolutely convinced that when we go forward to enact this 
program on a bipartisan basis, as we heard in the Democratic policy 
session this morning, private insurance companies all over this country 
will tear up their existing contracts with older people and add the 
prescription drug program that we enact this year to their coverage. By 
the way, they would not be required to do it. Under our legislation and 
other bills, this would be voluntary for both private insurance 
companies and for older people.
  The reason why I believe private insurance companies are going to be 
very eager to participate is that they will not be able to be 
competitive with the various other companies in an area unless they 
offer the benefit.
  If you took a Salt Lake City, UT, or a Portland, OR, or a Denver, CO, 
where there are a variety of insurers, once we enact this program, 
seniors are going to go to private insurers and ask: Are you offering 
this particular benefit? Because we see the Congress has passed a law 
making available funds to pick up the prescription drug portion of a 
senior citizen's private health insurance bill.
  I think all this talk about how private insurance companies are not 
going to be interested in offering this benefit is incredibly 
farfetched. While our proposal and the other good proposals that are 
offered are voluntary, we are already hearing from insurance companies 
that they are going to be very interested in offering this benefit. In 
fact, many of them are going to believe they have to do it in order to 
be competitive in their community.
  I hope--I did want to be brief tonight--we can go forward in the days 
ahead and act on this matter as priority business before the Senate. I 
intend to keep coming to the floor to bring to the attention of this 
body cases from home and from across this country of older people who, 
when they are done paying their prescription drug bills, literally have 
only a few hundred dollars a month to pay for their food and their rent 
and their utilities. It is outrageous, in a country as good and strong 
as ours, that we have not updated our health care system to provide 
this coverage.
  Because I have come to the floor now 25 times in 3 months to talk 
about this issue, and Senator Daschle's effort to bring the Senate 
together, to reach out to colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I 
am asked all the time: Can America afford to cover prescription drugs 
for older people? My response is: We can't afford not to cover 
prescription drugs.
  What the gerontologists told us today is that if you want, for the 
long-term, to promote wellness and to keep seniors healthy, make these 
drugs--the drugs that lower blood pressure and cholesterol--available 
to seniors because with them seniors will be able to stay healthy and 
not rack up these much larger medical bills that are incurred when they 
are ill.
  One of the most striking examples I have seen in this discussion 
involves the anticoagulant drugs, the drugs that prevent strokes. It 
might cost $1,000 or $1,500 for a senior to get those drugs for a 
year--certainly that is expensive--but if, through drugs such as that, 
you can prevent stroke--which will cost upwards of $100,000--it seems 
to me it makes a very clear case that we ought to be offering this 
benefit.
  I recognize that colleagues have different views as to how to go 
about doing it. Several of my Democratic colleagues have bills. I do 
not expect to have the last word on this subject. I know colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle have legislation, as well. I am very 
honored to have been able to team up with Senator Snowe for 15 months 
now in an effort to pass this prescription drug benefit on a bipartisan 
basis.
  But let us make sure this issue does get addressed, and addressed in 
this Congress. Because to let this become fodder for another political 
season, and to have the back and forth that would go on in a political 
campaign, where one side blames the other side, is not productive. That 
is not what Senator Daschle wants to have, as he tries to bring 
together the various approaches that have been offered by Members of 
the Senate. I know there are a number of Republicans who want to avoid 
that kind of train-wreck scenario where you do not act on this issue; 
instead, it just becomes the fodder for another political campaign.
  What the Democratic Policy Committee heard this morning from seniors, 
from pharmacists, from gerontologists, ought to be compelling to every 
Member of this body--Democrats, Republicans, liberals, and 
conservatives.
  Let us debate the specifics about how to go about offering this 
benefit, but let us make sure this issue gets done because I do not 
think it is right for the country to wait any longer to move forward on 
an issue that is so vital to health care reform.
  I intend to keep coming back to the floor to address this issue. The 
session held by the Democratic Policy Committee was so compelling this 
morning that I wanted to take a couple minutes to bring it to the 
attention of the Senate.
  I wish to make it clear that I look forward to working with all of my 
colleagues on a bipartisan basis. The Presiding Officer--the Senator 
from Utah--and I have talked about health care on a number of occasions 
since I have been in the Senate. He has great expertise. We are going 
to involve him in this cause and get it done in a bipartisan way.
  I think this morning's program by the Democratic Policy Committee was 
another step in the right direction.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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