"At our small town family pharmacy in Prescott, a pharmacy not unlike the one I just mentioned, the prescriptions can cost as much as $100, $200, or even more.   I know the amount of courage it takes to face customers with prices like that, knowing they must find room in their $600 social security check, if that much, to pay for it. 

"I recently commissioned a study which revealed that seniors in my own district who lack prescription drug coverage pay on average more than twice as much for the five most popular prescription drugs than they would pay if they lived in a foreign country.   I do not know how we in Congress can summon the courage to continue letting our seniors fend for themselves with prices like that. 

"Yet House Republicans are intent on pushing through a plan that is at best a Band-Aid for this healthcare crisis.  It does not adequately provide for our seniors, but instead protects the big drug manufacturers that impose these high prices on our seniors.  What’s more, Republicans have blocked efforts by Democrats to improve this plan to include a meaningful prescription drug benefit for our seniors.  America’s greatest generation deserves better than that.

"Our Democratic plan is simple.  We say that going to the pharmacy and getting your medicine ought to be treated just like going to the doctor and going to the hospital - it should be covered by Medicare.  I have asked my Republican colleagues to step up to the plate and support the plan that I call the “seniors’ plan,” and I will continue to fight to ensure that the plan that comes out of Congress will be the plan that does right by our seniors."

Ross speaks out in favor of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and Discount Act at Grubbs Pharmacy, a neighborhood pharmacy on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning.  Ross is joined by Dell McCarley, a pharmacist from Little Rock.

“This report gives us hard data showing the outrageous and unfair costs seniors citizens in our area are faced with in trying to buy the medicines they need,” said Ross.  “My district is one of the poorest in the nation; the seniors I represent simply cannot afford to pay the prices for prescription drugs that are being forced on them by the big drug manufacturers.  If the governments in these foreign countries can stand up to the big drug manufacturers, there is no reason why we cannot do the same thing for our seniors here in the United States.  This is America.  We can do better-we must do better-by our seniors.”

The report examined the five brand-name prescription drugs with the highest annual sales to seniors in 2000, all of which are used to treat chronic conditions and are taken for months or years at a time: 

• Prilosec, an ulcer and heartburn medication;
• Prevacid, an ulcer and heartburn medication;
• Celebrex, an arthritis medication;
• Zocor, a cholesterol-reducing medication;
• Lipitor, a cholesterol medication.

Ross’s congressional district for the five most popular drugs for seniors is 110% higher than the average price of the drugs in Canada, Europe, and Japan.  Drug prices for uninsured seniors in the Fourth District are 156% higher than in France, 129% higher than in Canada, 125% higher than in the United Kingdom. 

Two specific examples of the overwhelming price disparity highlighted by the report include: 

A monthly supply of Prevacid costs only $45.02 in the United Kingdom, but a senior in the Fourth District without drug coverage must pay $128.84, almost three times as much.  Similarly, a monthly supply of Celebrex costs only $30.60 in France, compared to $81.84 in Arkansas, over two and a half times as much.

Ross is one of four lead sponsors of the House Democrats’ prescription drug benefit plan, the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and Discount Act.  Under this bill, seniors would pay a $25 monthly premium, a $100 annual deductible, and 20 percent of the cost of each prescription, with Medicare picking up the remaining 80 percent.  Seniors would receive 100 percent coverage by Medicare for all prescription costs once they have spent $2000 out-of-pocket for the year.

The House of Representatives was originally scheduled to vote Wednesday on a Republican prescription drug benefit proposal that benefits big drug companies more than it benefits seniors, but that vote has been postponed by the Republican Leadership.  The vote may occur later this week. 

The Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee has produced a Prescription Drug Savings Calculator that seniors can use to calculate how much they would save on prescription drug costs under the Democratic prescription drug plan versus the House GOP prescription drug plan.  To view how much your savings would be, you can log onto www.house.gov/reform/min/ <http://www.house.gov/reform/min/> and click on the “Drug Savings Calculator.”

Among the projects included, Ross was able to secure added funding this year for continued progress on the Pine Bluff Arsenal access road.  Just recently, the Arsenal received the $1 million he secured in fiscal year 2002; this year the House committee has approved more than double that amount in new funding for the road - $2.5 million.  Ross also secured an additional $3.5 million above and beyond the President’s budget for the Pine Bluff Arsenal and $65 million for the production of PAC-3 missiles in Camden.  This raises the number of PAC-3 missiles to be produced at Camden from 72 to 96.

“We worked hard to increase funding for several Arkansas defense projects and were proud to get $71 million more than what the President requested for Military Construction and Defense projects in our district,” Ross said. “Our nation is only as strong as its defense, and these projects are critical for our national security and for jobs and opportunities in South Arkansas.

“The $2.5 million for the access road is a tremendous gain for the Pine Bluff area.  Shortly after I took office, I was able to facilitate the transfer of 1500 acres from the Pine Bluff Arsenal to the Jefferson County Alliance to provide land for their proposed biotechnology industrial park, or ‘Bioplex.’  The first thing needed for economic development is infrastructure, and that is exactly what this road will bring.  It will provide additional infrastructure for attracting a vaccine production facility to Pine Bluff Arsenal, and it will provide the necessary artery around which the Bioplex can be built.” 

Also included in the additional $71 million above the President’s request are three programs that will provide a significant economic boost to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, in that they will ensure production that is vital to its continued operation.  Those projects are as follows:
 

• $1.5 million for Filter Surveillance Program - assesses the shelf life of the charcoal filter in protective face masks
• $1 million for M291 Decon Kit Production - produced exclusively at the Arsenal, it consists of a small cloth containing a decontaminant to neutralize any known chemical agent
• $1 million for Bio-Detection Kit Storage - new to the Arsenal, a result of increased preparedness for biological warfare following September 11th, allows soldiers and emergency response teams to detect bio-hazardous chemicals

The Military Construction and Defense Appropriations Bills now head to the United States Senate.

Funding for projects in Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional District is as follows:

Pine Bluff Arsenal:

• Improvement of Emergency Access and Evacuation Infrastructure (access road) - $2,500,000
• Filter Surveillance Program - $1,500,000 
• M291 Decon Kit - $1,000,000
• Bio-Detection Kit Storage - $1,000,000
• Non-Stockpile Ammunition Demilitarization - $18,937,000

Camden, Lockheed Martin:

• PAC-3 Missile - $536,700,000 ($65 million above President’s request)
• Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System - $29,698,000
• Guided Unitary Multiple Launch Rocket System - $45,000,000
• High Mobility Artillery Rocket System - $10,000,000

• Standard Missile Procurement - $156,423,000
• Standard Missile Improvements - $16,288,000

FY 2003 Defense and Military Construction total for Fourth Congressional District - $818,046,000