Gilbert Gutknecht: “I rise again tonight on the floor of the House to talk about the issue of prescription drugs and how much Americans pay…”

“I rise again tonight on the floor of the House to talk about the issue of prescription drugs and how much Americans pay relative to consumers in the rest of the industrialized world. What we have on this chart are the prices effective February 7, 2005, so they are relatively new. We have prices here from the Metropolitan Pharmacy in Frankfurt, Germany, and a local pharmacy in my hometown of Rochester, Minnesota. Over the last year, we expected the prices to narrow because of what has happened to the dollar relative to the euro, but, in fact, the price difference between what Americans pay and Germans pay has actually gotten worse. Let me give a couple of examples. A drug called Norvasc, 30 tablets, 5 milligrams, in Rochester, Minnesota, $54.83. In Germany, only $19.31. Drop down to another drug, and these are 10 of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States and in Europe. Zocor, $85.39 for a month's supply in the United States, and in Germany it is $23.83. Mr. Speaker, what is important about that particular drug is for many of the programs, including many of the Federal employees, the copay here in the United States for that drug is $30. You can walk in off the street and buy it at the Metropolitan Pharmacy in Frankfurt, Germany, for less than the copay in the United States. Mr. Speaker, the chart speaks for itself. The total for the 10 most commonly prescribed drugs in Germany is $455.57.…”