John Tierney: “Today we have heard all stories from our constituents who have to choose between medication and food or rent. We all…”

“Today we have heard all stories from our constituents who have to choose between medication and food or rent. We all know that by paying higher prices than individuals anywhere else in the world, Americans are subsidizing the drugs that benefit others. We know that private prescription drug expenditures have been growing at a rate of 17 percent a year. We do not deny the drug manufacturers, who enjoy the highest profits of any industry, engage in important, sometimes life-saving research that should be encouraged. But the burden should not be on the elderly and those least able to afford it. Let us clear up one misconception now: H.R. 664 does not mandate price controls, but uses market forces such as volume buying. The United States makes large public commitments to drug research already, through taxes and the National Institutes of Health research money. While companies in the United States generally face an effective taxation rate of about 27 percent, drug companies, through generous tax credits and benefits, were effectively taxed at roughly 16 percent. Financial encouragement of research should not be eliminated and would not be under the legislation we seek to bring to the floor. During the 1984 Waxman-Hatch Act effort and the 1990 Medicaid debate, drug companies complained they would have to cut research, yet they subsequently contradicted themselves by expanding it instead. We merely seek to strike some balance.”