[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                SENIORS AT MERCY OF CONFUSING DRUG RULES

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, for over a year now, senior citizens in my 
State of Minnesota have been subject to a sink hole that the 
administration calls Medicare part D, the prescription drug program.
  It was really never meant for our seniors. It was written for and by 
the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies at the expense 
of our senior citizens and paid for by the American taxpayer.
  In 2006, companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Merck and Novartis made 
record profits. Meanwhile, Minnesota seniors are at the mercy of 
complex and confusing drug company rules, matched by the rising cost of 
drugs, costs that make gas prices seem stable.
  Prescription drugs have increased at twice the rate of inflation. 
Medicare folks pay as much as 10 times more than vets do through the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Mr. Speaker, that is no way to treat the greatest generation. We can 
and must do right by them. We must end the drug company charade and 
enact real prescription drug reform. It is time to let HHS negotiate 
just like the VA.
  Today, the House will pass the Medicare Prescription Drug Price 
Negotiation Act. Let us end the scam and give the greatest generation 
the dignity they so deserve. Vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4.

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