Green Bay, WI -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today emphasized his support for legislation to allow Medicare beneficiaries to purchase prescription drugs at the low prices already available to pharmaceutical companies' favored customers, such as the federal government, hospital chains and managed care entities.

"The absence of prescription drug coverage in Medicare means staggering out-of-pocket expenses for Wisconsin seniors," said Feingold. "I regularly get calls to my office from seniors on fixed incomes who have to choose between buying the medication they need and putting food on their table. This is a unacceptable situation, and I am committed to changing it."

At his Listening Sessions in Brown, Shawano and Waupaca counties, Feingold explained that small, owner-operated community pharmacies that serve many Wisconsin seniors lack the purchasing power of the pharmaceutical companies' favored customers and have to pay higher prices for prescription medication. Those higher prices are then passed on to the seniors who purchase them. That, coupled with the lack of Medicare coverage for this medicine, means that the majority of Wisconsin seniors have little access to affordable prescription drugs. In late March Feingold joined five other senators as an original cosponsor of The Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act of 1999, introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, which would allow all pharmacies that serve seniors to purchase prescription drugs at these lower rates.

"This bill could make a dramatic difference for seniors who are struggling to cover the costs of their prescription medications," Feingold said. " I will continue to press for passage of this measure in the Senate, and to fight for the reasonable rates seniors deserve for the prescription medication they depend on to manage serious health conditions and to improve the quality of their lives."

Feingold's 22nd Listening Session of 1999, and the 454th since he was first elected in 1992, was held at the Brown County Senior Center, beginning at 9 a.m. Feingold's 23rd Listening Session of his term, and 455th since he was first elected, took place at the Shawano City Hall beginning at 12:45 p.m. Feingold's 24th Listening Session of the year, and 456th since he was first elected, was held at the Clintonville Community Center beginning at 2:45 p.m. Feingold has renewed his pledge to hold Listening Sessions in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties every year, after keeping his promise to do so during his first term.