lily
01-13-2007, 10:35 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011201399.html?referrer=email
House Passes Medicare Drug Bill
Measure Would Require Government to Seek Lower Prices
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 13, 2007; Page A02
The House voted yesterday to require the government to negotiate lower
prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. But the measure faces
an uncertain future in the Senate, a veto threat from President Bush, and
considerable doubts from experts about whether it would save elderly and
disabled Americans much money.
The vote was 255 to 170, with 24 Republicans joining 231 Democrats in
approving the legislation.
The bill overturns a provision of the 2003 law pushed through by a
Republican-controlled Congress that left drug-price negotiations under the
new Medicare drug benefit to the private insurers that offer
government-subsidized drug plans for seniors in each state.
Backers of the current system, mainly Republicans, say it pits insurers
against one another in a healthy competition to negotiate the lowest prices
from drugmakers and offer seniors the most attractive monthly premiums,
choice of drugs and access to pharmacies.
But critics, mainly Democrats, say the system is a boon to drug companies
because it prohibits the government -- perhaps the one force powerful enough
to take on the pharmaceutical industry -- from using its bargaining muscle
on behalf of seniors.
"This legislation is a common-sense effort to do right by the 43 million
Americans enrolled in Medicare," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer
(D-Md.). "This bill is a very important first step in making prescription
drugs more affordable."
The bill would require Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to
pursue negotiations with drug companies and report to Congress in six
months.
Medicare "pays more than the VA pays for the same prescription
pharmaceuticals," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D.
Dingell (D-Mich.), the lead sponsor of the bill, referring to the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
"The reason is no one is able to negotiate on behalf of the citizens," he
added. "You've got a bunch of coldhearted prescription pharmaceutical people
. . . who are fixing the prices that are paid by seniors citizens. . . .
It's time that we correct this."
Leavitt and other Republicans countered that the year-old program is
working, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reporting
overall costs coming in billions of dollars lower than expected and average
plan premiums being lower this year than in 2006. Moreover, polls conducted
last fall by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and other nonpartisan
groups found that the overwhelming majority of seniors were satisfied with
their drug plans.
"Many of us believe that competition and using free-market principles in the
long run produce better results, lower costs, higher quality and more
satisfaction among seniors. And that's exactly what we've seen with this
plan," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
Republicans also pointed to separate analyses this week from the CMS and the
Congressional Budget Office that concluded that the House bill would have
little or no effect on spending.
House Passes Medicare Drug Bill
Measure Would Require Government to Seek Lower Prices
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 13, 2007; Page A02
The House voted yesterday to require the government to negotiate lower
prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. But the measure faces
an uncertain future in the Senate, a veto threat from President Bush, and
considerable doubts from experts about whether it would save elderly and
disabled Americans much money.
The vote was 255 to 170, with 24 Republicans joining 231 Democrats in
approving the legislation.
The bill overturns a provision of the 2003 law pushed through by a
Republican-controlled Congress that left drug-price negotiations under the
new Medicare drug benefit to the private insurers that offer
government-subsidized drug plans for seniors in each state.
Backers of the current system, mainly Republicans, say it pits insurers
against one another in a healthy competition to negotiate the lowest prices
from drugmakers and offer seniors the most attractive monthly premiums,
choice of drugs and access to pharmacies.
But critics, mainly Democrats, say the system is a boon to drug companies
because it prohibits the government -- perhaps the one force powerful enough
to take on the pharmaceutical industry -- from using its bargaining muscle
on behalf of seniors.
"This legislation is a common-sense effort to do right by the 43 million
Americans enrolled in Medicare," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer
(D-Md.). "This bill is a very important first step in making prescription
drugs more affordable."
The bill would require Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to
pursue negotiations with drug companies and report to Congress in six
months.
Medicare "pays more than the VA pays for the same prescription
pharmaceuticals," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D.
Dingell (D-Mich.), the lead sponsor of the bill, referring to the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
"The reason is no one is able to negotiate on behalf of the citizens," he
added. "You've got a bunch of coldhearted prescription pharmaceutical people
. . . who are fixing the prices that are paid by seniors citizens. . . .
It's time that we correct this."
Leavitt and other Republicans countered that the year-old program is
working, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reporting
overall costs coming in billions of dollars lower than expected and average
plan premiums being lower this year than in 2006. Moreover, polls conducted
last fall by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and other nonpartisan
groups found that the overwhelming majority of seniors were satisfied with
their drug plans.
"Many of us believe that competition and using free-market principles in the
long run produce better results, lower costs, higher quality and more
satisfaction among seniors. And that's exactly what we've seen with this
plan," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
Republicans also pointed to separate analyses this week from the CMS and the
Congressional Budget Office that concluded that the House bill would have
little or no effect on spending.