Washington, Dec 12, 2002 - Today, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH-10) asked President Bush to establish a Federal Pricing Commission on Pharmaceuticals. The Pricing Commission would be a federal commission charged with the gathering and reporting of pharmaceutical costs and charges in health facilities.

"Hospitals on average mark up pharmaceuticals by about 335 percent. Drugs are driving up the cost of health care overall, and we must find which facilities are charging the most, and how this is impacting the rest of the health care system," stated Kucinich.

The Federal Pricing Commission on Pharmaceuticals would report drug information from all health facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. This would ensure that any patient would be able to find out how much their hospital, for instance, paid for a medication and be able to compare that with how much they are charged for that medication. Each facility would be responsible for returning an annual survey to the Commission of the costs, charges and reimbursements for the top 30 most used medications.

According to a recent analysis of more than 5,000 hospitals nationwide by the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy (IHSP) hospitals increase the price of medication an average of 335 percent. Tenet Healthcare, one of the country's largest for-profit hospital chains, marks up its medication prices by 736 percent. The markup on drugs has gone up nearly every year, from 303 percent in 1993 to 335 percent in 1999/2000, the most recent year for which data is available.

"There is no question that drug prices are unaffordably high. What we have learned from IHSP is that drug prices are a principle driver in fueling overall increases in hospital costs and health insurance premiums. Pharmaceutical costs are making the entire health care system more expensive and poorer quality for all patients. The promise of prescription drugs was to make hospital costs diminish, but prescription drugs have done exactly the opposite," continued Kucinich.

The Commission, created independently from the Health and Human Services Department, would make annual reports to Congress. It would include 19 appointed members who would serve two-year rotating terms and be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It would also include a National Health Care Policy Impacts Subcommittee to review the annual commission reports and analyze the effects of drug pricing on health care quality, as well as address the costs and benefits of pricing policies.