December 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 198 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H10032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES ARE OUT OF CONTROL

  (Mr. CASTEN of Illinois asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, prescription drug prices are out 
of control. Year after year, we see prices rise. Old drugs become 
unaffordable, and new drugs may cost more than a house.
  That is why I support H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs 
Now Act. This bill would change the lives of the 89,000 seniors on part 
D in my district and over 600,000 people on private health insurance 
plans in my district.
  One of those, in particular, is Liz Phelan. Liz lives in Algonquin, 
Illinois, and retired after 38 years of public service. In 2007, she 
had a double transplant: a kidney and a pancreas. She is alive today 
for two reasons: One is the generosity of a donor, and, the second, the 
antirejection drugs that she has to take to keep her alive.
  Those drugs alone cost $662 every 3 months, out of pocket, but 
because she needs additional medication, she hits the Medicare coverage 
gap, where she is on the hook for the balance of her costs.
  H.R. 3 would be a game changer for Liz. It would lower her 
prescription drug costs to $2,000 because H.R. 3 would create, for the 
first time, a cap on how much seniors need to pay out of pocket in 
Medicare. It would make sure that the drugs she needs to survive do not 
increase above the rate of inflation.
  For Liz and for the millions of other Americans who face high-priced 
medicines, we must pass H.R. 3.

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