Tom Coburn: “We spent 2 weeks ago talking about the crisis in the pharmaceutical industry as far as our seniors in getting drugs. It…”

“We spent 2 weeks ago talking about the crisis in the pharmaceutical industry as far as our seniors in getting drugs. It is not just our seniors; it is everybody in this country is paying too much for drugs. There are five things that could happen tomorrow to lower the price for prescription drugs in this country. This is a small step that would help. It is not even one of the major ones. The number one thing is to have a competitive market for prices in this country. We believe in free enterprise; there is not free enterprise in the pharmaceutical industry right now. All one has to do is look at the FTC Web site. There is documented collusion. We need to address that. Number two, our President needs to stand up and bully pulpit the pharmaceutical industry's prices. We do not need price controls. We need competition. Competition allocates scarce resources better than any type of price control ever will. What we need is real competition. Ms. Reno has received a letter signed by me asking for an investigation of which as of today, now, 4 weeks later, there has been no response on the documented areas of collusion within the drug industry.”