Frank Pallone: “we know when Medicare began under President Johnson it was because the private sector was not able to provide health…”

“we know when Medicare began under President Johnson it was because the private sector was not able to provide health insurance that was affordable for most American seniors. That is why the program was set up, not because we wanted a government program or we thought a government program was superior, but because the private sector was not providing any kind of affordable health insurance that most seniors could buy. I want to develop a little bit what the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) said on the pricing issue. The incredible thing about the prescription drug industry is that they get so much money and help from the Federal Government right now, and I have a lot of the pharmaceutical companies headquartered in my district, and New Jersey as a whole, so I am not saying that they should not be able to make a profit, but think about the fact that this is an industry that get a tremendous amount of money from the Federal Government through the National Institutes of Health to do the research on prescription drugs.”