IV
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 435
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Medicare
beneficiaries should have access to outpatient prescription drug coverage.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 8, 2000
Mr. SESSIONS (for himself and Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce,
and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
Medicare beneficiaries should have access to outpatient
prescription drug coverage.
Whereas prescription medicines save lives, cure and prevent
disease, relieve pain, improve the quality of life for pa-
tients, help people avoid disability, surgery, hospitaliza-
tion, and nursing home care, and often decrease the total
cost of treating an illness;
Whereas two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have access to
prescription drug coverage through employer-based insur-
ance plans, Medicare+Choice plans, medicare supple-
mental (Medigap) policies, Medicaid and state drug as-
•HRES 435 IH
sistance programs, and other private insurance or man-
aged care plans that include a drug benefit;
Whereas United States companies led the world in drug re-
search and development, spending $24 billion on research
and development in 1999;
Whereas United States companies have over 1,000 life-saving
medicines in development for cancer, heart disease and
stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes,
depression, and numerous other diseases that affect the
elderly;
Whereas privately funded research and development is ex-
tremely costly, time-consuming, and high risk—on aver-
age it takes 12 to 15 years to bring one medication to
market and each costs an average of $500 million and
only 3 of every 10 drugs that reach the market are prof-
itable;
Whereas almost half of all major new medicines in the world
are discovered by United States companies primarily be-
cause the United States market-based health care system
rewards and encourages biomedical research and develop-
ment;
Whereas far fewer drugs are developed by companies in for-
eign countries because many foreign governments control
the prices of prescription medicines thereby discouraging
research and development; and
Whereas the number of persons qualifying for Medicare bene-
fits will increase dramatically over the next 25 years plac-
ing additional strains on the financial solvency of the pro-
gram: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that Congress should enact legislation that—
•HRES 435 IH
(1) ensures that prescription drug coverage re-
places the need for seniors to rely exclusively on out-
of-pocket expenditures for their medicines;
(2) ensures that the Medicare program is not
further fiscally compromised and its financial sol-
vency is preserved and protected;
(3) ensures that existing sources of drug cov-
erage for Medicare beneficiaries, such as employer-
sponsored retiree prescription drug benefits, are not
displaced into a government-run program;
(4) provides a mechanism to assist low income
Medicare beneficiaries to afford coverage;
(5) avoids any form of extensive government
regulation, including government rationing of life-
saving medicines and direct or indirect price con-
trols; and
(6) encourages the continued high rate of re-
search and development by the private sector in the
United States and does nothing that creates dis-
incentives for the discovery of new drugs.
SEC. 2. The Clerk of the House of Representatives
shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President.
Æ