Jeff Miller: “I have been an early cosponsor of his legislation. My congressional district in Florida has more seniors than any…”

“I have been an early cosponsor of his legislation. My congressional district in Florida has more seniors than any district, or as many as any district in the country. It is a beautiful retirement area in southwest Florida. At my town meetings, I have had two concerns expressed by seniors. One is, we need help with our prescription coverage. Our prescription costs are so much higher today than they were certainly in 1965 when Medicare came in. We need to do something about it. This House for the first time in history finally passed legislation. Let us hope the Senate will act and we will get something to the President in the next few months. We really need to help the seniors. The other issue is, why are drugs lower in Canada and elsewhere around the world? I do not know the answer to that. As the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) showed in his chart, we just look at prescription after prescription where this is a fraction of the cost in Europe, whether it is in England, Ireland, France, or if we go to Mexico, it is lower. Why? I do not have an answer, but I do know how to solve the problem: Buy it where it is cheapest. If we can find a cheaper place to buy it, that is what the marketplace is all about. Let us let the market work. We should not have the government stand in the way to cause problems.”