BILL REQ. #:  S-1427.2 

Read first time 02/11/2005.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for prescription medicines; and
     WHEREAS, A prescription drug that costs one hundred dollars in the United States often costs as little as sixty dollars in Canada, as well as in most developed Western nations; and
     WHEREAS, Prescription drug spending continues to increase at rates much higher than inflation each year -- sixteen percent in 1999, nineteen percent in 2000, seventeen percent in 2001, and ten percent in 2002; and
     WHEREAS, This trend is expected to continue, with drug spending projected to increase by an average of twelve and six-tenths percent annually until 2010; and
     WHEREAS, The cost of prescription drugs is putting unsustainable pressure on the pocketbooks of uninsured Americans, more than six hundred thousand of whom live in Washington State, as well as our state budget; and
     WHEREAS, Older Americans are particularly hard hit by higher prices because they take more prescription drugs and many must pay for their medications out of their own pockets; and
     WHEREAS, Even with the addition of a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare package in 2006, seniors will still feel the effect of higher prices if something is not done to lower prices; and
     WHEREAS, Washington State has made concerted efforts to control state spending by creating a preferred drug list that pertains to its three largest health purchasing agencies; and
     WHEREAS, Even with these efforts and others at the state level, many of the thousands of uninsured seek additional relief from prescription drug prices; and
     WHEREAS, The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 set up a process whereby states could be certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to import prescription drugs in a safe manner;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress and the Bush Administration constructively engage and support state efforts to allow local pharmacists to safely import prescription drugs so patients can stay at home and continue using their own doctor and local pharmacy, or failing that, that Congress and the Administration create a truly competitive marketplace by using the purchasing clout of Medicare to negotiate prices so Americans can purchase FDA-approved drugs at the much lower prices available in other countries.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.