No One Should Have to Choose Between Medicines or Meals
By: U.S. Congressman Lincoln Davis

This spring, I held several town hall meetings in Tennessee's Fourth District to help seniors understand and-and benefit from-the upcoming changes in Medicare. Medicare beneficiaries had lots of questions about how they could sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug card and how much relief it would provide from the high price of prescription drugs.

This June, seniors who signed up for one of the new Medicare-approved Prescription Drug Discount cards hoped to find big savings on their prescription drugs. A Medicare analysis of drug card prices four weeks from the beginning of the sign-up period showed 11 to 18 percent savings over the national average retail price for a "basket" of medicines a typical senior would take. The study also found that the cards offering some of the best prices stayed largely the same from week to week.

While the changes in Medicare may be helping some seniors save money on their medicines, it clearly is not helping others. I have received several letters from Medicare-eligible individuals who have run price comparisons on their own prescriptions who are not seeing those savings. I frequently hear requests from seniors in my rural District to try to do more to help them handle skyrocketing health care and prescription drug costs.

In response to these issues, I have supported two key measures that I believe will help bring down the costs of prescription drugs. First is the issue of reimportation of medicines from Canada and Europe. We have all seen or heard news stories about seniors who travel across our nation's borders to purchase prescription medications, and who are rewarded with significantly lower prices. H.R. 2427 provides for safe, effective re-importation from Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, and others. Any re-importation would require stringent Federal Drug Administration (FDA) oversight and be subject to appropriate standards to ensure safety and quality such as requiring a "chain of custody" paper trail to ensure that the FDA had approved that medicine for importation. On July 25, 2004, H.R. 2427 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, and I voted for it.

A second strategy for lowering the price of prescription drugs is to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (under which Medicare is managed) to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. In other countries, the health minister has the authority to set prices for medications to ensure that prices are not unnecessarily inflated. Two bills, H.R. 3707 and H.R. 3767, address this issue. I, along with 174 of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, are cosponsoring H.R. 3707 because we strongly believe it represents a strategy that will work. The bill is tied up in Committee.

To me, one thing is clear: our health care system needs help. More and more people are reaching senior citizen status, and thanks to advances in medical research, health care delivery, and prescription drug development, people are living longer and enjoying a higher quality of life. However, the current system is buckling under its own weight, and is becoming clear that additional oversight is needed.

The 108th Congress will need to pass the torch to the 109th Congress to work in a bipartisan manner for the good of all people. Seniors across America desperately need assistance in paying for their prescription drugs. Our citizens have been required to pay outrageous prices for the prescription drugs they desperately need to manage their healthcare needs. I campaigned on doing whatever I could to make prescription drugs available and affordable for our citizens, and I promise to continue that fight as long as I'm here in Washington. No one should have to choose between medicines or meals.

Davis represents the 4th Congressional District of Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives.