Democrats Offer Comprehensive Rx Drug Benefit Bill
"[G]earing up for a battle with President Bush" over a Medicare prescription drug benefit, some Democrats have introduced an outline of a bill that not only would provide seniors with a drug benefit, but also would address drug pricing, CongressDaily/A.M.reports. The bill, which the group is calling the Medicare Extension of Drugs (MEDS) to Seniors Plan, would attempt to "bring American prices into line with international prices" by allowing reimportation of drugs manufactured in the United States but then imported by other countries, which sell them at a cheaper cost. Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), a supporter of the MEDS plan, was one of the authors of the reimportation measure Congress passed last year as part of the FY 2001 Agriculture appropriations bill. Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala "declined to set [that measure] into motion," however, saying that HHS "could not certify that the law would pose no greater risk to consumers." The new reimportation measure "addresses what Democrats see as loopholes" in the original law, such as the law's time limit, contracting restrictions and labeling and country limitations. The new bill would require NIH to write "reasonable pricing" into its contracts with pharmaceutical companies when taxpayer funds are used in research. The Senate has defeated such an idea before (Fulton, CongressDaily/A.M., 2/1).
In contrast to Bush's prescription drug plan, the MEDS plan would cover all 40 million Medicare beneficiaries and would pay for 80% of their drug costs. Bush's four-year, $48 billion proposal would cover low-income seniors and pay for 25% of drug insurance premiums (Washington Post, 2/1). Bush's plan also leaves "open the door to general Medicare reform that could mean broader prescription drug coverage," Gannett News Service/Detroit News reports. Rep. David Bonoir (D-Mich.), one of the MEDS plan's sponsors, called Bush's proposal "disappointingly weak," but said that the MEDS plan is "comprehensive. It is strong. It's the right thing to do." However, the bill's sponsors "admitted they face a tough fight to gain ground in a GOP-dominated Congress and support from a Republican president," Gannett News Service/Detroit News reports (Ferguson/Kelly, Gannett News Service/Detroit News.