John Spratt: “Mr. Speaker, I am offering this motion to instruct the House conferees on the budget resolution, basically to say to the…”

“Mr. Speaker, I am offering this motion to instruct the House conferees on the budget resolution, basically to say to the conferees, let us put the Medicare drug prescription benefit first and foremost, ahead of everything else. Let us do it ahead of the tax cuts. Let us put it on a priority schedule, let us go first with it. Just today we read in the newspaper that Medicare beneficiaries who do not have drug coverage typically pay at least 15 percent more than those who have the benefit of insurance. I have the experience just a week or two ago with visiting a pharmacist in my district who by mistake had received a billing from an HMO intended for an HMO in Atlanta, Georgia. And when he opened it up, he saw what the HMO was paying for drugs like Zocor and Vasotec and Cumadin, as opposed to what he was paying, and the difference between what he was paying and charging his customers at his pharmacy and what the HMO was paying was as much as 65 or 70 percent in favor of the HMO in certain cases. That is not right. Mr. Speaker, when we combine that with the fact that drug costs are going up at a rate that is two or three times the rate of the increase in health care generally and the elderly, those over 65 and on Medicare have a greater need for prescription drug benefits than anybody else, we have a crisis on our hands.”