Harry Reid: “older Americans pay the highest prescription drug costs in the entire world. Because of the high cost and the lack of…”

“older Americans pay the highest prescription drug costs in the entire world. Because of the high cost and the lack of coverage, many of our seniors are being forced to make tough choices. In fact, one in eight seniors is forced to choose between buying food and buying medicine. Many seniors simply do not take drugs their doctors prescribe because they cannot afford them. Some seniors do not fill one or more of their prescriptions. Others divide their pills in half. Others, instead of taking half a pill a day, skip days and take them every other day. Some older Americans do not buy their own prescription medicine so they can buy the prescription medicine their spouse needs. In a country that is blessed with the economy that we have, and some of the best medical researchers in the world, it is disgraceful that lifesaving drugs are not being made accessible to our seniors. Prescription drugs are a necessary component of modern medicine, and our seniors are dependent on them to maintain healthy lives. It used to be, before Medicare came into being, that 4 out of every 10 seniors who were hospitalized had no health insurance. Now virtually all have health insurance. At the time we started Medicare, it was not necessary that we have a prescription drug benefit. Thirty-five years later, it is absolutely important.”