Article: One reason the Pill Makers love the new Medicare Part D

From John Curry:

I am an avid reader of "Comsumer Reports" and I believe many of you are also familiar with this magazine. A letter from the President of Consumer Reports (Jim Guest) appeared on page 5 of the December 2005 edition that caught my eye. I admire Jim's courage for what he said about the high cost of Rx AND what has transpired at the highest levels of our federal government. I have "keyboarded" his article below:

"In my compact New York City apartment, there are practical considerations to buying a 12-pack of paper towels, like where will we put the now-displaced vacuum cleaner? So, it's rare we get to take advantage of the cost savings of buying in bulk. The federal government has no such excuse when it comes to a far more expensive commodity, prescription drugs. And yet, it hasn't tried to lower drug prices in the Medicare system by negotiating for bulk discounts.

How is it that the government's Medicare administrators don't exercise their clout the way ordinary consumers do? Congress and the White House don't have to look far to find a role model. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs routinely bargains for, and gets, lower drug prices for its 5.2 million beneficiaries. A September report from Families U.S.A., a not-profit health care-advocacy group, found that the lowest price a consumer could get with a Medicare discount card was almost always much higher than the lowest price negotiated by the VA. While the report was based on the soon-to-end Medicare drug discount card program, Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports expects that, in general, the Medicare prescription drug plans that will go into effect in January will not do much better.

When Congress overhauled Medicare, providing limited prescription drug coverage for seniors, pharmaceutical companies successfully pushed through a provision that bars Medicare from negotiating lower prices. Instead, what seniors got was Medicare Part D, a flawed system that leaves big gaps in coverage and requires seniors to choose among dozens of confusing drug plans.

Some states are taking matters into their own hands. Maine, a leader in addressing prescription drug costs, uses its purchasing power to leverage significant discounts for low and moderate-income residents. California is considering a similar model: Proposition 79 is on this year's ballot.

Needless to say, drug companies are waging a full-scale offensive against any such efforts. In Maine, the pharmaceutical companies sued -- unsuccessfully -- to block that state's bill. In California, the industry has contributed at least $80 million to defeat Proposition 79 and promote Proposition 78, a sham designed to confuse voters that gives the state no bargaining power in negotiations with drug companies and relies entirely on the industry's goodwill.

Of course, lowering the price of drugs that aren't effective or safe helps no one. States, the VA, and private officials are using available data to identify the best and safest drugs. The federal government should do the same. (Note that all consumers can get information on safe, effective, and affordable drugs in certain categories by going to www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org, which is a free Consumers Union Web site.)

The tens of billions of dollars that Medicare spends on drugs each year is money that comes straight from taxpayer's pockets. We'd all be better off if the government bargained harder for the drugs we need at prices we can afford.

Jim Guest-President of Consumer Reports

Note : Both Proposition 78 and 79 were defeated by California voters last week. Why does the federal government still not negotiate for lower Rx prices like the VA does for Medicare patients? Well, you might want to run that one by the White House and the majority in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives- maybe they could explain it.

John, a Proud CORE member

http://coremail.blogspot.com/

ORC 3307.15 - not just a wish, IT'S THE LAW!