[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11454-11455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   DEMOCRATIC PRESCRIPTION DRUG BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the prescription drug bill we are 
introducing today is straightforward. It is easily distinguishable from 
the Republican bill introduced last week. There is no fine print in our 
bill. There are no holes in our prescription drug coverage. There are 
no question marks where the premium and cost-sharing requirements 
should be. The availability of coverage does not hinge on the Federal 
Government, unlike the Republican plan, showering the insurance 
industry with tax dollars so they will offer stand-alone drug plans.
  One of the strongest points of the Democratic plan is that it is not 
endorsed by the drug industry. That is because we hold down drug costs 
by bringing down drug prices, not by shortchanging seniors on coverage. 
Our bill creates a drug coverage option for Medicare beneficiaries that 
is affordable, it is reliable, and I emphasize is at least as generous 
as the coverage available to Members of Congress.
  Our bill strengthens Medicare, rather than snubbing it. It minimizes 
the hassle involved in getting drug benefits.
  We add the drug coverage option to the Medicare benefits package. 
Seniors are not forced to go outside of Medicare and enroll in an 
insurance company HMO to get their drug benefits as they are required 
to do under the Republican plan.
  Our bill takes action against inflated drug prices on behalf of every 
senior and every American consumer. The brand name drug industry has 
taken to exploiting loopholes in the FDA drug approval process to block 
generic competition and keep drug prices high. So not only the drug 
companies charge Americans the highest prices in the world for 
prescription drugs, while those drugs are still under patent, these 
companies, these drug companies continue to charge Americans 
ridiculously high prices even after the drugs have gone off patent, 
even after the patents expire, because they block generics, block 
competition from entering the market.
  This gaming of the patent system is not theoretical. It happened with 
Paxil; it happened with BusPar; it happened with Prilosec; it happened 
with Neurontin; it happened with Wellbutrin. These are top-selling 
drugs. Seniors and other consumers who need these drugs have paid 
twice, three times, four times more than necessary for these products 
for months and sometimes for years because brand-name drug companies 
block legitimate generic competitors from the market. These big-name 
drug companies supported by Republicans over and over game the patent 
system.
  While the Congressional Budget Office has not formally scored these 
provisions, their estimate suggests Medicare alone could save tens of 
billions of dollars if we make drug companies play fair. Needless to 
say, these provisions to bring drug prices down are not in the 
Republican bill. The drug industry, in fact, has ponied up $3 million, 
$3 million to back an ad campaign touting the Republican's bill, which 
protects the drug companies.
  If drugmakers thought there was any chance the Republican's bill 
would reduce drug prices for Medicare enrollees, do my colleagues think 
they would endorse it? Of course not. The Republican bill has the drug 
industry's fingerprints all over it.
  Our bill is admittedly more expensive than the Republican bill. It 
should be more expensive because our coverage is better. The Republican 
bill is dirt cheap for a reason. Their bill is most notable for the 
coverage it does not provide. It is basically one big disclaimer.
  The last thing we want to do is to reduce the number of uninsured in 
this country simply to increase the number of underinsured. If we can 
afford $4 trillion in tax cuts, we can afford to create a real drug 
coverage option in Medicare for retirees and disabled Americans. It is 
a matter of priorities.
  This Congress made a choice between tax cuts for the richest one-half 
percent of people, the most privileged people in this country, a choice 
between giving them tax cuts and providing inadequate prescription drug 
benefits for

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seniors. Republicans chose the tax cuts for the most privileged. 
Democrats are choosing a prescription drug benefit for 38 million 
Medicare beneficiaries.
  It is a question of priorities. Let us do the right thing and pass 
the Democratic substitute.

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