Date: 1999-05-19
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise to participate in todays special order to highlight the high cost of prescription drugs for seniors in America. and I wishto compliment the gentleman from Maine for first organizing this special order and. secondly. for introducing the Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act. H.R. 664. Sooner or later every American will be affected by Medicare. Like death and taxes. the coming of old age is inevitable for the living. The need for affordable and quality health care for seniors. therefore. is in everyones best interest. When ones resources are limited like many of our constituents. we know we need to give this attention. Mr. Speaker. Texas is no different from anyone else. Its health care. the need for health care. becomes even more acute. Currently. Medicare offers health care insurance protection for 39 million seniors and disabled Americans. The program provides broad coverage for the cost of many primarily acute health services. However. there are many gaps in program coverage. The most glaring shortcoming is the fact that Medicare has a very limited prescription drug benefit. Most beneficiaries have some form of private or public health care insurance to cover expenses not met by Medicare. The reality is that many of these plans do not offer coverage or offer very limited protection for drug expenses. The result is that Medicare beneficiaries pay approximately half of their total drug expenses outofpocket. For many seniors. the existing system imposes quite a financial burden. and for many it means choosing between medication or food or utilities or other essentials. The average drug expenditure for Medicare enrollees living in the community was $600 in 1995. Total spending for persons with some drug coverage was $691 compared to $432 for those with no coverage. according to data compiled by the Congressional Research Service. The average expenditure per person varied widely depending upon the type of insurance coverage. In every category. spending was significantly higher for those who had supplementary drug coverage than those who did not. Higher spending reflects higher use rates. In 1995. persons with coverage used 20.3 prescriptions per year compared to 15.3 prescriptions for those with no supplementary drug coverage. One inference that the Congress and the President should take toheart from these figures is obvious. Based on their limited income. some seniors are foregoing the purchase of needed prescription drugs so that they can eat. pay bills or submit their rent checks on time. It is absolutely amazing to me that the U.S. Government would foster a Medicare policy that directs seniors to choose whether they have prescription drugs or whether their electric bill is paid on time. That is a choice without a favorable outcome. Based on this problem. the Congress and the President should be spurred into action to approve the legislation of the gentleman from Maine or some legislation that brings additional prescription coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. Obviously. this benefit will be expensive. but Iam confident that the Congress and the President. working with the drug manufacturers and health care community. can achieve this goal. A second concern that exists in the current Medicare system. that does not feature a drug benefit. is the difference between what seniors pay versus .what other purchasers of health insurance paid. It affects them as their limited income begins. Studies by the staff of the gentleman from California . who is on the Committee on Government Reform. have revealed that pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of older Americans through price discrimination. These studies show that in Texas and other States seniors pay for prescription drugs. on average. nearly twice as much as the drug companies favored customers. such as the Federal Government and large health maintenance organizations. This price difference is approximately 5 times greater than the average price difference in other consumer goods. I intend to work with the Committee on Government Reform to determihe the extent of this problem as we complete the study in my district. In the meantime. the Congress and the President need to address the lack of Medicare prescription drug benefits. As a cosponsor of the bill offered by the gentleman from Maine . I would urge all Members to cosponsor it. This is not a partisan piece of legislation. This is for all seniors. This legislation allows pharmacies to purchase drugs for Medicare beneficiaries at the best price charged to the Federal Government through programs such as the Veterans Administration or Medicaid. The legislation has been estimated to reduce prescription costs for seniors by more than 40 percent. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate this evening.