[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 39 (Monday, October 2, 2000)]
[Pages 2213-2215]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Proposed ``Medicine Equity and 
Drug Safety Act of 2000''

September 25, 2000

Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Dear Mr. Leader:)

    In your letter, you outlined a number of health care issues that you 
indicated could be resolved before Congress adjourns. I want to be 
equally clear about my priorities and hopes for progress this fall. As 
the days dwindle in this session of Congress, I am seriously concerned 
about the lack of movement on some of our most important issues. I am, 
however, encouraged to learn from your letter that the Republican 
leadership is now committed to providing Americans with access to 
prescription drugs available at lower cost from other countries.
    As you know, our people are growing more and more concerned that the 
pharmaceutical industry often sells the same drugs for a much higher 
price in the United States than it does in other countries, even when 
those drugs are manufactured here at home. This forces some of our most 
vulnerable citizens, including seniors and people with disabilities, to 
pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. This is 
simply unacceptable.
    That is why I support the ``Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 
2000,'' which the Senate passed by an overwhelming vote of 74 to 21. 
This important legislation would give Americans access to quality 
medications at the lower prices paid by citizens in other nations. The 
Senate bill, sponsored by Senators Jeffords, Wellstone, Dorgan and 
others, would allow wholesalers and pharmacists to import FDA-approved 
prescription drugs and would establish a new safety system intended to 
track these imports and test them for authenticity and degradation. 
Before this provision could take effect, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services would be required to certify that the regulations would, 
first, pose no risk to the public health; and, second, significantly 
decrease prices paid by consumers.

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    With these protections in place and the $23 million necessary to 
implement them, this legislation would meet the test that we both 
believe is crucial--preserving the safety of America's drug supply.
    Although your letter implies support for legislation similar to the 
Senate-passed bill, I am concerned by its statement that seniors would 
``buy lower-priced drugs in countries like Canada'' [emphasis added]. Of 
course, few seniors live near the Canadian or Mexican borders and even 
fewer can afford to cross the border in search of lower-price drugs. 
Moreover, policies like the House's Coburn amendment would strip the FDA 
of all of its ability to monitor safety and prevent seniors from buying 
counterfeit drugs, putting their health in danger and their finances at 
risk.
    I urge you to send me the Senate legislation--with full funding--to 
let wholesalers and pharmacists bring affordable prescription drugs to 
the neighborhoods where our seniors live. Though this initiative does 
not address seniors' most important need--meaningful insurance to cover 
the costs of expensive medications--it still has real potential to allow 
consumers to access prescription drug discounts.
    I remain concerned that with less than one week left in this fiscal 
year, Congress has not passed eleven of thirteen appropriations bills; 
Congress has not raised the minimum wage; and Congress has not passed a 
strong, enforceable patients' bill of rights. And, according to your 
letter, the congressional leadership has given up on passing a 
meaningful, affordable and optional Medicare prescription-drug benefit.
    I am extremely disappointed by your determination that it is 
impossible to pass a voluntary Medicare prescription-drug benefit this 
year. I simply disagree. There is indeed time to act, and I urge you to 
use the final weeks of this Congress to get this important work done. It 
is the only way we can ensure rapid, substantial and much-needed relief 
from prescription drug costs for all seniors and people with 
disabilities, including low-income beneficiaries.
    On the issue of the Medicare lock-box, I have endorsed the Vice 
President's initiative, which has been effectively embodied in Senator 
Conrad's amendment that passed on the Labor-Health and Human Services 
appropriations bill. I am therefore encouraged by your commitment to 
passing this legislation; but we must still make all efforts to ensure 
that the Medicare payroll taxes in the lockbox are used solely for 
Medicare.
    Similarly, I am pleased to learn of your commitment to pass a 
greatly-needed package of Medicare and Medicaid health care provider 
payment and beneficiary refinements. As you know, I proposed such 
refinements in my budget and in my June Mid-Session Review. This 
includes payment increases for hospitals, home health agencies, nursing 
homes and other providers as well as access to Medicaid for legal 
immigrants, certain uninsured women with breast cancer, and children 
with disabilities; extended Medicare coverage for people with 
disabilities; an extension of the Balanced Budget Act's diabetes 
provisions; and full funding for the Ricky Ray Trust Fund.
    Again, I am pleased to learn of your commitment to providing 
Americans with access to high-quality, lower cost prescription drugs 
from other nations. There is no reason why we cannot work together to 
pass and enact such legislation immediately. As we do, we should not 
give up on passing both a workable, affordable and voluntary Medicare 
prescription-drug benefit for our nation's seniors and a meaningful 
patients' bill of rights for all Americans. I will do everything in my 
power to achieve that end, and I look forward to meeting with you on 
these issues as soon as possible.
    Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: Letters were sent to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives; Richard A. Gephardt, House minority leader; and Thomas 
A. Daschle, Senate minority leader. An original was not available for 
verification of the content of this letter.

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