Rick Allen: “I found, as many of us have back in our districts as we travel around and talk to seniors, that the high price of…”

“I found, as many of us have back in our districts as we travel around and talk to seniors, that the high price of prescription drugs comes up at every meeting of seniors. It does not matter where we are or who we are talking to. As long as there is a senior in the room, it seems, this subject will come up, particularly if we give people an opening. There are some reasons for that. Seniors use one-third of all prescriptions in this country. While the average American under age 65 uses only 4 prescriptions a year, the average senior uses 14 prescriptions a year. In particular, older Americans suffer more from those chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, glaucoma and circulatory problems that require the taking of regular prescription drugs. When Medicare was created in 1965, it was designed as a system of acute care, so it did not cover prescription drugs. Now, the number of hospital beds is shrinking, people are not spending as much time in the hospital, and they are not there because of advancements in prescription drugs, and yet 37 percent of all seniors have zero coverage for prescription drugs.”