For Immediate Release, AUGUST 01, 2001
Sanders To Congress: It’s The Price, Stupid
Congressman highlights the need to lower prescription drug prices in order to develop a strong prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined with five House members at a press conference today to address their growing concern over the direction of the Medicare debate in Congress. Their message was simple – only by lowering the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. can Congress develop a truly strong and comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit with a reasonable price tag.

Sanders said, “By refusing to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and lower the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs, most of the Medicare prescription drug proposals now being floated in Congress will be far too expensive for most senior citizens. While the Republican plans are grossly inadequate, the major Democratic plan is also unsatisfactory. I do not believe that most seniors in this country will feel positive about a Democratic plan that would contain a $53 a month premium, a $250 deductible and a 50% co-pay on all drugs up to an out-of-pocket limit of $3,500. Even with the catastrophic coverage this bill contains, this proposal is just too expensive. It makes no sense that after federal government spending of $30 billion a year on this program, most seniors in Vermont and throughout the country would be much better off by just going over the border and buying their medicine in Canada.

Sanders continued, “The members of Congress who stand with me today want to create a strong prescription drug benefit under Medicare. We understand, however, that to do that we must end the absurdity of American consumers and the U.S. government being forced to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Clearly, this will not be an easy task given the $262 million that the drug industry spent in the 1999-2000 election cycle, a sum which will only go up in the coming years. But it’s a fight that must be waged, and a fight that must be won.”

Sanders is the author of a Medicare prescription drug benefit bill which would provide a 20% co-pay, a low deductible and low premiums. His legislation is able to be far more generous than any other because of the strong cost-containment built into it, including a prescription drug reimportation approach that would lower the costs of drugs for Medicare by 40-50 percent.

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