Without question our health care system is in a crisis and people are rightly demanding solutions.  Many of the good people of East Tennessee continue to see their cost of prescription drugs skyrocket. 

One of the reasons I voted against the new law which added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare is because I felt it would benefit pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry more than our seniors.  I opposed the provision in the bill which prohibits Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices.  This is just another incentive for the pharmaceutical industry to raise prices, while leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill.

That is why I am an original cosponsor of the Medicare's Equitable Drugs for Seniors Act of 2004, H.R. 3707, which would strike this provision.  This bill would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to leverage the buying power of the 40 million seniors on Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. 

We must work for common sense solutions to meet the prescription drug needs of all Americans.