[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 23]
[House]
[Pages 32004-32005]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today, as the President signs the Medicare 
Reform Act dealing with prescription drugs, although this is going to 
be

[[Page 32005]]

hailed around in Washington as a great day, we missed an opportunity to 
save our seniors dramatically on the cost of prescription drugs.
  We could have included a provision that allowed prescription drugs to 
be purchased in Canada or Europe where prices are 40 to 50 percent 
cheaper, saving for seniors, on average, a good deal of money, as well 
as taxpayers a good deal of money. We could have included a provision 
to allow a Sam's Club-like bulk negotiating which the Veterans' 
Administration does for veterans, and we could have done that for 
Medicare, for 41 million Americans, to reduce prices. Either way, 
either of these issues, either through open markets and market access, 
allowing competition to bring prices down and give consumers choice, or 
allowing bulk price negotiations, which is what happens if you have a 
Sam's Club. In either manner, we in the government prevented that from 
happening and are forcing our seniors into higher prices and forcing 
our taxpayers to play inflated prices.
  We have an obligation to the taxpayers to give them the best and most 
affordable prices for their taxpayer money, and we took a pass today on 
that legislation.

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