Orrin Hatch: “Each year in this country approximately 180,000 women are diagnosed as having breast cancer, a terrible disease that…”

“Each year in this country approximately 180,000 women are diagnosed as having breast cancer, a terrible disease that will claim nearly 50,000 lives. But, nearly 2.6 million women are breast cancer survivors, in part because of the availability of Tamoxifen citrate, a widely used post-operative drug for this disease. My colleagues may not be aware that a low-cost version of Tamoxifen is available on the market today. As a result, the estimated 800,000 women who take two tablets per day of this lower cost medicine are saving a total of $81 million a year. It has not been widely publicized, but during consideration of the Balanced Budget Act, a provision was included in the now-vetoed conference report to amend the Medicare Program to include reimbursement for Tamoxifen. Unfortunately, I believe my colleagues were unaware of the negative effects of this rebate provision when it was passed as part of the budget bill.”