Rick Allen: “Here we are again, back in the well of the House, talking about a problem that is a matter of immediate concern to…”

“Here we are again, back in the well of the House, talking about a problem that is a matter of immediate concern to seniors and others all across the country. A little history. I want to talk in a few minutes about the debates that are going to come up this week and next week here in the Congress over the issue of prescription drugs, but a little history is worth recalling. It was almost 2 years ago when I released the first study done by the Democratic staff of the Committee on Government Reform which shows that, on average, seniors pay twice as much for their prescription medications as the drug companies' best customers, being big hospitals, HMOs, and the Federal government itself buying either for Medicaid or through the Veterans Administration. That is an astonishing difference, a difference of about 100 percent of the most commonly-prescribed prescription drugs. We released that first study on July 2, 1998. In September I introduced legislation, September of 1998, that would provide a discount to every senior who is on Medicare, to all Medicare beneficiaries.”