WHEREAS, quality, affordable health care has increasingly become a national priority for senior citizens, and

WHEREAS, home health care services have filled the needs of ill senior citizens who are poor while allowing them the often life-saving dignity of continuing to reside in their homes, and

WHEREAS, this vital service, despite its value to senior citizens, is assailed by Congress in the form of new requirements such as a $40.00 co-pay per visit

WHEREAS, efforts to remedy this situation through legislation at the federal level have become bogged down in partisan politics, while states like California, Florida, Hawaii, Maine and New Mexico have successfully passed legislation into law and

WHEREAS, legislation at the state level has proven to save states money, make prescription drugs more affordable to those who can least afford to pay, and has also withstood legal and constitutional challenges, and

WHEREAS, the League of United American Citizens (LULAC), founded in 1929, has historically been a champion of the disenfranchised and a leader in the fight for social justice,

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that LULAC commends efforts by states to remedy the prescription drug crisis through legislation and the work of organizations and individuals to bring that process about, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LULAC supports efforts of state legislation to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufactures to provide uninsured residents the same discounts they already offer to federal government and its agencies and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LULAC endorses and supports efforts at the state level designed to ensure that states save revenue by securing discounts and rebates from pharmaceutical manufacturers, that manufacturers continue to profit by offering said discounts and rebates, that pharmacies and pharmacists continue to do healthy business by participating in prescription drug programs created by state legislation, and that life- saving and life-enhancing prescription drugs be affordable to those millions of Americans who need them most.

Submitted by Cindy Gustamente, Chairperson, Committee on Health, District XV and Velma S. Ortega, LULAC Council #4416 and Henry Rodriguez, Director, District XV.

Approved this 29th day of June, 2002.

Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President