Bill Clinton: “A lot. And let me just say to all of you, this fine young woman is representative of where the pharmacists of our…”

“A lot. And let me just say to all of you, this fine young woman is representative of where the pharmacists of our country are. I want to--I said that I regretted the fact that the drug manufacturers were opposing our program because they're afraid it will hold costs down too much. The pharmacists who see the real live evidence of this problem have been, I think, the most vociferous supporters of this whole initiative of any group not directly involved in getting the benefits, and I can't thank you enough. Thank you. But wait, let me say one other thing. She made another point that I didn't make in my remarks that I would like to make to you. She said, you know, say it was your grandmother or something, if she doesn't take this medication she'll have to go to the hospital. Now, suppose there were no Medicare program. Suppose President Johnson hadn't created Medicare 34 years ago and we were starting out today. Does anybody here even question that if we were creating Medicare today, prescription drugs would be a part of it? If we were starting all over again? Thirty-four years ago we didn't have anything like the range of medicines we have today that could do anything like the amount of good and do anything like the amount of prolonging our lives, our quality of life, keeping us out of the hospital. And here's the bizarre thing about this, if we manage this program right over the long run, it's going to be a cost saver because we'll be--if you've got $2,000 in drug costs, that's a lot--that's what her costs are--that $2,000; how long does it take you to run up $2,000 in hospital bills? A lot less than a year. A lot less than a week. So I think that's another point that ought to be made when this debate is unfolding, that, yes, this will be--it's a new program, so it will cost money. But eventually, particularly if Heather is right and we can make sure a higher percentage of our people use these drugs properly, you will save billions of dollars in avoided hospital stays, which we pay for. That's the irony of this whole thing. That's the other reason I'm for all these preventive tests being provided for free, because we don't pay for the preventive tests, but when you don't get them and you go to the hospital, we do pay for that. So I think any thing we can do to make people healthier and keep them out of the hospital and keep them out of more extensive and expensive care is a plus. So thank you very much. [Ms. Aldrich noted that substantial advances in preventive medicine since 1965 had altered application of treatment.]”