[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [House] [Page 22873] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]SENIOR CITIZENS ARE MOST AFFECTED BY HIGH COST OF PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about a problem that affects millions of seniors across this country and, in fact, millions of other people as well. I am talking about those people who do not have prescription drug coverage. No insurance for their prescription drugs. This problem affects seniors more than others, because although seniors make up 12 percent of the population, they buy 33 percent of all prescription drugs. And studies done in my district in Maine and, indeed, around the country, in approximately 65 to 70 districts, have shown, on average, that seniors pay twice as much for their prescription medications as the drug companies' favored customers. Well, who are the favored customers? The favored customers are HMOs, big hospitals and, in fact, the Federal Government, buying either for those who are on Medicaid or for veterans, who get their drugs through the Veterans Administration. That price discrimination has to stop. That price discrimination is making it impossible for many seniors to take the drugs that their doctors tell them they have to take. What we have in this country now is a situation where many seniors are having to choose between food on the table, the electric bill, the rent, and taking the prescription drugs that their doctors have given them. So some people are taking one pill out of three. Some people are not taking their prescription medications at all. I have had a couple of women write to me and say, I do not want my husband to know, but I am not taking my prescription medication because he is sicker than I am and we cannot both afford to take our medications. That should not happen in this country, but it happens because under Medicare there is no coverage for prescription drugs. In fact, 37 percent of all seniors have no coverage at all for their prescription drugs. Twenty-eight percent have some form of private coverage through a retiree plan, but that number is declining and will decline further. About 8 percent have coverage through medigap, but medigap policies are expensive and often are really not worth the coverage. Seventeen percent have coverage under Medicare managed care. But, frankly, the managed care prescription drug benefits are being cut back, people are being dropped from the rolls, and the benefit, where it still exists, is more expensive than it used to be. Now, what is happening? I have a bill that would lower the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly. It is H.R. 664, called the Prescription Drug Fairness For Seniors Act. It does not cost the Federal Government any significant amount of money and creates no new bureaucracy, but it would reduce the prices by as much as 40 percent. There are those out there attacking both my discount plan and the President's plan for a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. There are ads. This is a picture of Flo. Flo is appearing in newspaper ads and she is also appearing in television ads. Who is paying for the ads that Flo brings? Well, something called Citizens for Better Medicare. Well, who are Citizens for Better Medicare? What a great name. It is the pharmaceutical industry primarily. The drug manufacturers. What they are telling us all is that we need to keep the government out of the medicine cabinet, but in fact what they are really trying to do is make sure that their profits continue. This is the most profitable industry in the country, and it spends its money, millions of dollars, $30 million, to try to persuade people that what they really want is a program that will continue the high prices that people pay for prescription drugs. Now, Flo, of course, is a fake. She is an actress. She is not a real person. There are lots of real people in my district who are having trouble paying for their prescription drugs, but Flo is one of the 28 percent, arguably, who actually have prescription drug coverage. {time} 2000 But she feels no compunction, her pharmaceutical manufacturer sponsors feel no compunction in trying to make sure that the 37 percent with no coverage at all do not get any further breaks. It is outrageous. There is price discrimination going on in this industry against seniors right now. It needs to stop. Flo says, ``We don't want big government in our medicine cabinet.'' But without the Food and Drug Administration, we could not be sure that the drugs in the medicine cabinet are safe and effective. Without the government, people on Medicaid would have no drugs in the medicine cabinet at all. So the poorer people in this country are getting their prescription drugs paid for but people who are just above the poverty line are not. They are the people who often have several hundred dollars a month in prescription drug costs and they cannot do it. We need to pass H.R. 664, the Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act. We need to resist what Flo is trying to say. We need to stop big money in politics. ____________________