Sam Brownback: “today I rise to speak on the amendment offered by Senator Snowe to S. Con. Res. 83. This amendment addresses the…”

“today I rise to speak on the amendment offered by Senator Snowe to S. Con. Res. 83. This amendment addresses the question of whether the Federal Government should play a role in negotiating the prices of Medicare prescription drug plans. In the past, I have supported similar measures that would allow the Federal Government to negotiate prescription drug plan prices, based on the idea that there was a need to contain rising prescription drug costs and that negotiation would have the effect of driving down costs. However, we are now seeing dramatically lower costs than we had anticipated. Specifically, CMS recently announced that the average premium of a Medicare prescription drug plan is $25; this is thirty two-percent reduction from the premium estimates of 1 year ago. Also, CMS has reported almost doubling of discounts and rebates of drugs under the Medicare prescription drug program from original projections. These effects are a result of the fact that under the Medicare prescription drug program, similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, numerous plans are in competition to offer consumers the lowest possible prices. In view of this, today, I am voting not to support this amendment, and instead, am lending my support to offering America's seniors the lowest and most affordable prices on their prescription drugs.…”