Gilbert Gutknecht: “As we mentioned earlier, this is not a matter of right versus left, this is right versus wrong. It is simply wrong to…”

“As we mentioned earlier, this is not a matter of right versus left, this is right versus wrong. It is simply wrong to make American consumers pay the world's highest prices for drugs which largely the American taxpayers helped develop in the first place. Some people are saying, well, through these plans in Medicare, we will squeeze down the prices, but if we do not do something to bring market forces to bear on the overall cost of prescription drugs, what may well happen is the price for these prescription drugs will go up even more for those 41 million Americans that are currently uninsured. They are the ones who have to pay cash, they are the ones whose kids get sick with tonsillitis or ear infections or conjunctivitis, and they need those prescriptions as well. So this is not just about helping to keep down the price of prescription drugs for seniors; it is for all consumers and particularly for those uninsured or partially insured Americans who pay the world's highest prices. Hopefully, on a bipartisan basis, we will ultimately begin to get at those issues, whether it is the whole issue of importation of prescription drugs or bringing the generics to market faster so that Americans have those drugs at affordable prices. But again, this is not a partisan issue as far as I am concerned.”