WHEREAS, one hundred and thirty five million people, or two-thirds of all adults in the United States, use prescription drugs; and

WHEREAS, American consumers spent about $100 billion on prescription drugs last year, and that amount represents an increase of over twice the amount the nation spent on prescription drugs in 1990; and

WHEREAS, sixteen percent of total health care expenditures in the United States are spent on prescription drugs for adults; and

WHEREAS, there has been a steep surge in the price of commonly used drugs, more than twice the rate of overall inflation; and

WHEREAS, older consumers pay more than half of prescription drug expenditures out-of-pocket and these costs are particularly high for people with chronic conditions; and

WHEREAS, if individual states enact individual programs, a patchwork of different programs will result in confusing inequities; and

WHEREAS, the White House, Congressional Democrats, and Republicans have all made proposals to provide Medicare coverage of this essential aspect of medical care and the various proposals differ mainly in the amount of coverage and the number of seniors eligible; and

WHEREAS, no measure has yet to pass both Congressional Houses; and

WHEREAS, more and more seniors are finding it difficult to afford prescription drug coverage or to make the co-payments, causing them to reduce the prescribed use of pills to the detriment of their health or to go without medicine; now therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the United States Congress is requested to enact a program that will lower the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders in both Houses of Congress, and to Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.

Report Title:

Prescription Drugs; Congress