[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 28197]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                MORE OF THE SAME FROM DRUG MANUFACTURERS

  (Mr. OLVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, amidst one of the worst recessions in our 
Nation's history, as Americans are tightening their budgets, our 
friendly drugmakers are flying high. While promising to support the 
health care overhaul by cutting $8 billion per year from our Nation's 
prescription drug costs, they're busy raising the prices of brand-name 
drugs by 9 percent. That will add more than $10 billion per year to 
prescription drug costs.
  While the Consumer Price Index has fallen, the drugmakers are 
creating the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 
1992. It was only 3 years ago, in 2006, as the new Medicare part D 
program was going into effect, our prescription drugmakers raised their 
prices by four times the general inflation rate for the first quarter 
of that year.
  America, we have foxes in our hen house. Drugmakers are up to the 
same old tricks again, gouging America's senior citizens while 
pretending to work cooperatively with us on the health reform effort. 
Their profit margins are their only concern. How could we have expected 
anything else?

                          ____________________