“But health reform is not only saving money – it’s saving lives.”

“In the richest nation in the world no insurance company will ever again put a price tag on a human life.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding Saturday’s anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the greatest single step in generations toward ensuring access to quality, affordable healthcare for every American – the Affordable Care Act.

Millions of Americans are already benefitting from Obamacare. Insurance companies can no longer set arbitrary lifetime caps on benefits, putting millions of Americans one car accident or heart attack away from bankruptcy. Today children can no longer be denied insurance because they are born with a disease or a disability, a protection that will soon extend to all Americans. And soon being a woman will no longer be considered a pre-existing condition.

In less than a year, 129 million Americans with preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes can rest assured they’ll have access to affordable insurance and life-saving care – regardless of their health or how much money they make.

In Nevada alone, tens of thousands of seniors have saved tens of millions of dollars on medicines because the Affordable Care Act closed the gap in prescription drug coverage.

But health reform is not only saving money – it’s saving lives.

Just ask 26-year-old Sarah Coffey, a native of Gardnerville, Nevada. Sarah was halfway through her first year of law school at the University of Connecticut when she was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s disease.

Sarah had done everything right. When she enrolled at UConn, she bought the best student insurance plan money could buy and paid for it a year in advance. But her cancer – and the difficult treatment to fight it – made returning to school last fall impossible.

Since Sarah was no longer a student, she no longer qualified for student health insurance. And her policy was about to expire. Without an expensive bone marrow transplant, she might die.

Before the Affordable Care Act became law, Sarah would have been one of the tens of millions of Americans who desperately needed life-saving care, but didn’t have insurance to pay for it. Before the Affordable Care Act, Sarah might even have become one of the 45,000 Americans who died each year because they lacked health insurance.

But thanks to Obamacare, Sarah was able to sign on to her parents’ insurance plan. Sarah is one of 3.1 million young people – including 33,000 young Nevadans – who have benefited from a provision in the law that allows children to stay on their parents’ health plans until they are 26 years old.

And I’m pleased to report that Sarah’s story has a happy ending. She got the treatment she needed. Her most recent PET scan was clear. And Sarah plans to return to law school in September.

Sarah’s mother, Sue, sent me a letter in January. She wrote that Obamacare and the dedicated doctors at Stanford Hospital saved her daughter’s life.

This is the legacy of the landmark law: that no American will end up in an emergency room because he has no insurance, that no American will live in fear of losing her insurance because she loses her job and that in the richest nation in the world no insurance company will ever again put a price tag on a human life.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that, “The care of human life and happiness… is the first and only object of good government.” I am gratified that the Affordable Care Act meets that standard. And I am proud that this law, which we worked so hard to pass, is already ensuring the care of human life remains the first object of this government.

GOP Plan Would Force Seniors to Pay $2.5 Billion More In Prescription Drugs Next Year Alone By Reopening Drug ‘Donut Hole’

New State-By-State Reports Showing Devastating Local Impact on Seniors Found Here

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Democratic Policy and Communications Center (DPCC) detailed the devastating effects of the new Republican budget in a series of state-by-state reports. The Republican budget introduced by Paul Ryan is anything but balanced. It would end Medicare as we know it, forcing seniors into a costly voucher system, while providing more tax breaks to millionaires. It would gut investments that strengthen the middle class, while protecting tax loopholes that benefit corporations that ship jobs overseas.

“The closer you look at the numbers, the worse the House Republicans’ budget gets for the nation’s seniors. The Republican budget that would end Medicare as we know it is anything but balanced. Rather than taking a balanced approach to deficit reduction, the Republican budget would kick millions of seniors into a voucher program, and force them to pay more for prescription drugs,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Center. “This reckless budget would gut programs that are essential to the middle class, while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy and huge corporations. The Democratic plan preserves investments in job-creating programs, cuts wasteful spending, and protects Medicare for our seniors.”

Under the proposal, set to receive a vote in the House next week, seniors would see their out-of-pocket costs increase by as much as $5,900 per year.
The Republican budget would also reopen the prescription drug donut hole for millions of current seniors, forcing them to pay an additional $2.5 billion dollars for prescription drugs next year alone. A county-by-county breakdown of seniors’ savings on prescription drugs thanks to the Affordable Care Act through December 2012 can be found here. These savings would be wiped out in the Republican budget plan.

Report Highlights:

• The Republican plan could increase out-of-pocket health care costs per senior by $5,900.
• Nationwide, over 3.5 million seniors saved more than $2.5 billion in prescription drug costs last year. The GOP budget would eliminate those savings in the years to come.
• Over 34 million seniors could pay more for preventive services this year.

When 67-year-old Pamela Gunter began treatment for breast cancer, her doctor knew it would be a grueling fight.

He also knew it was a fight Pamela could win.

Pamela’s doctor put her on Taxol, a common chemotherapy drug.

The results were excellent: her tumors shrank.

Her prognosis was good.

Then – one day last spring – the Taxol ran out.

One of the most popular and effective treatments for breast, lung and ovarian cancer had suddenly disappeared from the market.

Doctors couldn’t get it. And drug suppliers couldn’t say why.

So Pamela’s doctor was forced use a much more expensive and much less effective course of treatment.

Her cancer spread.

By the time Taxol was available again, it was too late.

Pamela died in November.

She left behind a loving husband. She left behind two grown sons. She left behind a one-year-old grandson.

But with the right treatment, Pamela would still be alive today.

Her Las Vegas doctor says a shortage of this common, generic medicine directly contributed to her death.

Pamela isn’t the only American affected by shortages of Taxol and other life-saving drugs.

Every day, in hospitals across the country, Americans already dealing with devastating illnesses must also face shortages of FDA-approved medications that could keep them alive.

Today, Taxol is still scarce. And chemotherapy drugs aren’t the only ones in short supply.

Supplies of nausea medications and other drugs that reduce the side effects of cancer treatment are also limited.

On Monday, a Las Vegas oncologist said he ordered 10 drugs from his supplier. Only eight were available.

That’s typical. Doctors never know which drugs will be accessible and which won’t.

Last year, the FDA reported shortages of 231 drugs – including several chemotherapy medicines.

In the last six years, drug shortages have quadrupled.

Now, Congress can’t solve every problem in this country. But this is one problem we can solve, with cooperation from drug manufacturers.

The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act will help establish effective lines of communication between drug makers, the FDA and doctors.

When the FDA gets early warning from manufacturers that shortages are coming, it can act quickly to find alternate sources of medication and ease supply problems.

Drug makers averted 200 shortages last year alone by voluntarily notifying the FDA of trouble on the horizon.

But many more shortages – perhaps all 231 last year – could have been prevented if every drug maker shared information with the FDA.

That’s why Congress must act quickly to pass this legislation, which will also ensure the FDA has the resources to approve new drugs and medical devices quickly and efficiently.

Passing this legislation won’t bring Pamela back.

It won’t give her another day to spend with her husband, another week to say goodbye to her sons or another year to get to know her grandchild.

But this legislation will help prevent drug shortages like the one that took Pamela away from her family far too soon.

When someone we love gets sick the only thing on our minds is how to help them get them well – how to get them the care they need.

But before every miracle drug or innovative new device comes to market, there is a rigorous approval process to make sure that cure is safe.

To get life-saving drugs and devices to the patients who need them as quickly and efficiently as possible, Congress must give the Food and Drug Administration the tools it needs to review and approve those products.

Today the Senate will begin consideration of legislation that gives the FDA the resources to ensure medical devices, drugs and treatments are safe and effective.

I applaud the work of my colleagues, Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi, to bring this legislation to the floor.

I hope to see the strong, bipartisan effort these two senators began continue as the Senate considers this important measure.

The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act authorizes the FDA to charge user fees of the manufacturers of new medical products. Those fees are used to ensure their products are reviewed quickly and thoroughly before they are and approved.

But this legislation does more than maintain the status quo. It also enacts crucial reforms that will prevent drug shortages and bring life-saving medicines to market more quickly.

It will save high-tech jobs in the medical field, make new treatments available to patients quickly and preserve America’s role as a global leader in biomedical innovation.

The legislation will expedite the process of approving new drugs and medical devices, including many designed for children, while ensuring those products are safe for consumers.

It will help spur the innovations that bring the next groundbreaking cancer or Parkinson’s drug to market.

The bill will hold foreign manufacturer who sell drugs in United States to the same high standards met by American companies.

And it will help prevent drug shortages by opening up the lines of communication between manufacturers and the FDA.

The Senior Senator from Minnesota, Senator Klobuchar, and the Junior Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Casey, have been leaders on this drug shortage issue. I appreciate their efforts to safeguard Americans’ health.

Every day, hospitals across the country experience shortages of life-saving, FDA-approved drugs and treatments.

As most Senators know, my wife has been ill with cancer. She had 20 weeks of chemotherapy, and every week we worried the drug wouldn’t be there on Monday morning at noon, when she went for treatment.

Fortunately for us, it was always available. But that isn’t always the case.

These shortages threaten public health, and prevent patients from getting the care they need.

Shortages of one drug used to treat a rare form of childhood leukemia – a drug that is an effective cure in 90 percent of cases – have literally put young lives at risk.

No mother or father should have to watch a child suffers as he waits for life-saving medicine.

But as the number of drug shortages increases each year, more parents wait and worry.

In 2005, the FDA reported shortages of 55 medications.

Last year, the number jumped to 231 – including the leukemia drug I just mentioned and some chemotherapy medicines.

These shortages are caused by a variety of factors – problems at factories, limited manufacturing capacity or lack of raw materials.

Some are even caused by lack of financial incentive – profit motive – for companies to manufacture enough of certain medicines.

Public awareness and pressure have prompted drug makers to voluntarily notify the FDA of many impending shortages – preventing almost 200 more shortages last year alone.

But Congress can and must do more to improve communication between drug makers, the FDA and hospitals that provide crucial care.

Passing this legislation without delay will be a leap forward in that process.

“Families, seniors and small businesses in Nevada and across the country are reaping the benefits of health insurance reform. Prescription drug costs for seniors are falling as the Medicare ‘donut hole’ closes, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and business owners are taking advantage of tax breaks. Just last week, a conservative judge appointed by President Reagan ruled that this legislation is Constitutional, and I am confident the high court will do the same.”

With Theft Of Prescription Drugs From Cargo Trucks And Warehouses Up 350% And Armed Robberies Of Pharmacies At An All Time High, Senators Put Forth Plan To Combat Pharma-Theft At Every Part Of Supply Chain

Legislation Will Hike Sentences For Rx Theft And For Selling Stolen Products And Will Give Law Enforcement Additional Tools To Fight Sophisticated Rx Theft Rings

Washington, DC— U.S. Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Bob Casey (D-PA) today announced detailed legislation to crack down on the dramatically increasing theft of prescription drugs and medical devices – everything from Oxycodone to insulin to infant formula.  These type of thefts have skyrocketed and become increasingly sophisticated in recent years and threaten the safety and security of communities and patients across the country.  Pharmaceutical drug theft fuels crime and addiction throughout the country, endangers patients who unknowingly use these black market drugs, exposes newborns to harm and in some cases could even put money in the hands of dangerous terrorists.

To that end, the senators unveiled a plan to crack down on pharmaceutical drug theft along every point of the supply chain – from the warehouse to the delivery truck to the pharmacy. The plan would combat theft by hiking penalties, making theft of medical products a predicate for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law and giving law enforcement officials the tools they need – including wiretaps – to fight back against the dangerous drug rings.

The senators are announcing legislation that would:

·         Increase possible sentences for robbing pharmacies of controlled substances;

·         Increase sentences for the theft of medical products and for transportation and storage of stolen medical products, and apply that increase to each current section of federal law that could be used by prosecutors to charge such crimes;

·         Enhance penalties for stolen medical product “fences,” including individuals and organizations who knowingly obtain stolen products for resale into the supply chain;

·         Increase sentences when harm occurs or trust is broken – in other words, where the defendant is employed by an organization in the supply chain or where there was a death as the result of ingestion of a stolen substance;

·         Make theft of medical products a predicate for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, giving law enforcement access to wiretaps and other sophisticated tools;

·         Provide for civil penalties and forfeiture of ill-gotten gains derived from medical product theft.

“Prescription drug abuse derails lives, ruins careers, puts enormous strain on families, and dims the promise and potential of our children and young people,” said Rockefeller.  “While this is a serious problem throughout the country, it is heart-breaking that prescription drug deaths have been particularly devastating in West Virginia. We need everyone at the table – from law enforcement to public health, teachers to students, families and treatment professionals – to stop prescription drug abuse.  I appreciate Senator Schumer’s efforts to combat this problem and I will continue to make this initiative a top priority.”

“Criminals are executing Mission Impossible-style heists, but law enforcement is stuck with Dick Tracey-era tools,” said Schumer. “Allowing these crimes to be prosecuted under RICO laws will allow law enforcement to use tools such as wiretaps and allow them to strike back at criminals with both hands.”

“This bill is one front in on our war against prescription drug abuse in Ohio,” said Brown. “When unintentional drug poisoning surpasses motor vehicle crashes and suicide as the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, the prescription drug abuse epidemic has left too many families and communities are suffering. This bill is about putting criminals on notice and making sure the penalties fit the huge societal costs associated with the crime.”

“As I former prosecutor, I know how important it is to give law enforcement the tools they need to break up sophisticated drug rings,” said Klobuchar. “Black market prescription drugs pose a risk to patients and threaten the secure supply of life-saving medications and treatments. It’s time to crack down on the criminals who are fueling addictions and putting patients at risk.”

“These days there’s a black market for just about anything,” said Nelson.  “When it comes to stuff like drugs and baby formula, the last thing you want is someone getting sick from bad food or tainted medicine.  The people committing this kind of crime are putting at risk the safety and health of others. ”

“Criminals are targeting pharmacies and older Pennsylvanians to get their hands on prescription drugs and fuel the drug trade,” said Senator Casey.  “This legislation will increase penalties and help law enforcement target this battle in the war on drug crime.”

As the numbers show, pharmaceutical drug theft, whether it takes the form of robbery of pharmacies, hijacking of pharmaceutical delivery trucks or other forms of theft, is a growing concern for law enforcement officials nationwide.  According to data from the National Drug Intelligence Center, the amount of Controlled Prescription Drugs (CPDs) stolen in armed robberies doubled from more than 500,000 milliliters to nearly 1.1 million in 2007, while the amount lost in transit increased from more than 1.4 million milliliters in 2003 to more than 2.5 million in 2007.  Last year $184 million worth of prescription drugs were stolen in the U.S., a 350% increase from 2007.  Finally, since 2007 over 1800 pharmacies have been robbed. The crime wave has overwhelmed local law enforcement and drawn the attention of the federal authorities, but federal penalties for pharmacy theft are currently very low and do not provide federal law enforcement with all the tools they need.

Pharmaceutical theft not only leads to more addictive and illegal pain killers on our streets, it also puts in jeopardy the health of a patient who unwittingly uses these drugs after they end up on the black market or find their way back into pharmacies or hospitals. Stolen prescription drugs may end up in the hands of counterfeiters who can re-label or replace their contents with other ingredients. The case of Timothy Fagan provides just one example of what can go wrong when criminals tamper with stolen prescription drugs. As the New York Times reported, the sixteen year old Long Island boy “experienced painful spasms after getting a diverted dose of Epogen to treat his anemia after a liver transplant. The drug had been relabeled, stored in the back of a strip club and ultimately resold to a national wholesaler and dispensed by a pharmacy.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned last April that “There have been several cases where patients experienced adverse reactions from stolen drugs, reactions that were most likely due to improper storage and handling.” The Wall Street Journal noted that “Last year, several diabetes patients lost control of their blood-sugar levels after they unwittingly used stolen insulin, which must be refrigerated,” and in August 2010, the FDA issued a press release cautioning that the agency “has received multiple reports of patients who suffered an adverse event due to poor control of glucose levels after using a vial from one of the stolen lots.”

Stolen and distributed insulin has led to at least 40 instances of people becoming sick from using expired drugs in the following states and territories: Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

Stolen infant formula that ends up on the black market can also endanger the health and well-being of newborns.  Following the arrest of 21 men and women who stole more than $17.5 million worth of Similac, Good Start and other brands of baby formula in 2009, the Orlando Sentinel wrote that “Thousands of cans of baby formula stolen from local grocers by a large-scale organized ring of thieves and resold on the black market could pose a danger to babies and newborns.” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd warned that “If you buy [the baby formula] on the black market, you may very well be poisoning your child.”

The theft of infant formula has even been linked to terrorism. In a February 2005 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, then Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) Director Robert Mueller said “Middle Eastern criminal enterprises involved in the organized theft and resale of infant formula pose not only an economic threat, but a public health threat to infants, and a potential source of material support to a terrorist organization.” According to the Christian Science Monitor the FBI has traced money from infant-formula traffickers in the United States back to nations where terrorist groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, are active. In a 200-page report, the National Retail Federation called “organized retail theft” of infant formula “a serious security issue” for retailers.

Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, today said he will introduce separate legislation to help stem the tide of prescription drug abuse, illegal diversions, and deaths. Among other provisions, the Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 2011 would: improve Drug Enforcement Administration prescriber education requirements; help states establish interoperable prescription drug monitoring programs to prevent interstate and intrastate “doctor shopping” and drug trafficking; and remove dangerous opioids from the market.  Rockefeller has been working for several years to raise awareness about prescription drug abuse and the need for comprehensive legislation to address this growing problem.