Joe Courtney: “in 1991, as chairman of the Connecticut House Human Services Committee, I brought out to the floor of the Connecticut…”

“in 1991, as chairman of the Connecticut House Human Services Committee, I brought out to the floor of the Connecticut Assembly legislation which created a manufacturer's rebate for the State's Medicaid and Connpace prescription drug programs that provide coverage to seniors. The rebate gave the State an 11 percent discount off the average wholesale price of medications purchased by Connecticut. At the time we heard all the same arguments in opposition that are being used today, that rebates were price controls, they stifle R&D, that the State would be left with a restrictive formulary denying needed medications for the elderly. We went ahead and passed that bill, and I can say with pride today that this measure has saved Connecticut taxpayers tens of millions of dollars yearly and resulted in no, I repeat no, harm to Connecticut's seniors or the State's pharmaceutical industry. I point this history out not to pat myself on the back, although I am proud of that legislation, but rather to confirm that H.R. 4's plan for price negotiations is not just a theory but, rather, legislation that is grounded in real life, empirical, successful experience. For those of us who have fought this battle at the State level, this debate is like Yogi Berra's ``deja vu all over again.'' For the fiscal health of Medicare and for the physical health of our seniors, let's vote for H.R. 4.”