Jim Baird: “I came before this body about a month ago to address the problem of prescription medications, which my colleagues were…”

“I came before this body about a month ago to address the problem of prescription medications, which my colleagues were addressing. I pledged at that time to go back to my district and carry the voices of the people of my district back to this body. What we did was we visited senior citizen centers; and we asked the people there, please share with us your personal stories, your stories of what you are paying for prescription medications. We asked them to bring in their prescriptions, bring in their receipts. I can tell my colleagues the stories they told were tremendously moving. This pill bottle symbolizes the rising costs of prescription medication. Let me share with my colleagues a couple stories. A woman from Cinebar, Washington, who told me that they make just barely under $1,000 they receive in their Social Security and other benefits, but they pay well over $500, $500 in prescription medication costs. Another woman who had been monitoring the bimonthly bill she is paying for her medications for the last year, in one year, she saw a 20 percent increase, a 20 percent increase in one year in the drug costs. My own father who shared with me that a pill he took 8 years ago had cost $1 a pill at that time now costs $4 a pill. That is 400 percent inflation in 8 years. Mr. Speaker, this body has been in session now about 16, 17 months. We have named post offices. We have done some worthy things for sure. But we have not addressed this absolutely critical issue.”