Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. John Edwards To Announce Health Care Proposal Today
Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) today will unveil his health care plan, which will focus on prescription drug cost containment rather than expanding access, as the four other candidates' plans do, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Edwards will announce his plan in Washington, D.C., this morning at a speech before the Campaign for America's Future, an advocacy group. According to campaign documents, the plan will include:
- New disclosure requirements for drug advertising aimed at consumers, including rules that would require pharmaceutical firms to include information about drugs' effectiveness compared with similar products in advertisements;
- More authority for the FDA to fine companies that make false or misleading claims about their products (Wagner, Raleigh News & Observer, 6/5);
- Increased regulation of pharmacy benefit managers and a requirement that they disclose whether they have special deals with pharmaceutical companies that might influence their selection of drugs on their drug lists;
- More aggressive negotiations between federal and state governments and drug companies to secure lower prices on drugs offered to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries;
- A review of drug patent laws to potentially give patients earlier access to generic drugs;
- An investigation into whether drug companies appropriately use federal research subsidies (Goldstein, Washington Post, 6/5); and
- A comprehensive Department of Justice investigation into manufacturers' drug pricing practices for government programs.