National Right to Life Criticizes House Passage of Bill
That Would Ration Prescription Drugs in Medicare

The following statement was released by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 12, 2007, at 3PM EST.  For further information, contact 202-626-8815 or e-mail NRLMedicalEthics@aol.com .

WASHINGTON (January 12, 2007) -- The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation (H.R. 4) that would limit the right of older people to spend their own money to save their own lives by effectively imposing government price controls on prescription drugs in Medicare.  This would result in rationing of drugs in Medicare and denying older Americans access to groundbreaking, innovative drugs against their will.  Fortunately, the vote was short of the two-thirds majority that would be required to override President Bush's veto of the legislation.

The House passed H.R. 4 by a vote of 255 to 170.  This was 29 votes short of a two-thirds majority.

In a policy statement issued yesterday, the White House, noting the bill "limits access to lifesaving drugs," said, "If H.R. 4 were presented to the President, he would veto the bill."

National Right to Life was in the forefront of successful efforts in 1995-1997 and 2003 to allow retirees eligible for Medicare, if they choose, to add their own money on top of the government contribution in order to get insurance that will cover medical treatments and prescription drugs needed to save their lives without being subject to managed care that can force rationing.  If enacted, H.R. 4 would partially reverse this victory by imposing government restrictions on what such insurance, known as "private fee-for-service plans," could pay for lifesaving drugs.

"Under the guise of 'negotiation,' the government already sets drug prices for those in the veterans' health program, and its participants are denied access to 81% of the new drugs approved by the FDA since 2000," commented Burke Balch, J.D., Director of NRLC's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics .   "Today the House threatens to force the same death-dealing rationing on older people by limiting, not what the government spends, but what senior citizens themselves choose to spend of their own money to save their own lives."

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday held a hearing on the subject matter of the bill now passed by the House, and Senate committee and floor action on the issue is expected soon.

To read NRLC's January 2 and 10 letters to House members in opposition to the legislation together with questions and answers about the pro-life position, see http://www.nrlc.org/HealthCare/Index.html

The National Right to Life Committee is the nation's largest pro-life group with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide.  National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.