Political Quotes

“I have to believe that we all support ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries are getting the very best deal possible on their prescription drugs and that they want that, that they have access to drugs that their doctors believe will work best for them, and that they will continue to get their prescriptions filled at their local pharmacist. And in many rural communities, and in urban ones too in Michigan and across the country, the local pharmacist, in fact, is on the front line of health care. H.R. 4 doesn't get us there. As many have mentioned and will mention today, the CBO estimates that having the government negotiate drug prices would, in fact, have a negligible effect on prescription drug prices. The current program which relies on the experience and expertise of the private sector drug plans and on strong market-based initiatives, incentives, is producing significant savings today for our seniors. Here's a real example: one of my staffers reported that her mom signed up for a Medicare prescription drug plan. It took a bit of doing to sort through the many options available, but she is very glad that she did. She was paying before $106 for her Glucovance diabetes prescription. Now she is paying $5. She was paying $202 for Actos, another diabetes medication that she needs. She is now paying $30. And she was paying almost $29 for Coumadin. Now she is paying $5.”