Seniors would not have benefited enough, they say
Any hopes that Congress would pass a prescription-drug discount bill this summer were dashed when the Senate defeated four proposals in eight days. For some, this was a disappointment — but not for pharmacy groups.
The last proposal, sponsored by Sens. Bob Graham (D-FL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR), would have covered Medicare seniors with the lowest income and those with the highest drug expenses. The bill, which carried a $390 billion price tag, was considered to be the Senate’s best chance at passing Medicare prescription-drug relief this year. The 50-49 defeat (60 votes were needed to pass) in July reflected the deep divisions between many Senate Democrats and Republicans on the issue.
Hopes that the Senate would pass such legislation had been high, especially since the House passed a Medicare prescription drug package in June. Instead, some seniors vowed to show their disappointment in their senators in the next election.
Some pharmacy groups, however, breathed a sigh of relief. The four proposals considered failed to meet seniors’ needs, says Mark Griffin, chairman of the Board of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and president and CEO of Lewis Drug, in Sioux Falls, SD.
The American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) in Washington, DC, had opposed the Graham-Smith amendment because it did not meet all of the key criteria necessary for APhA support of Medicare pharmacy benefit legislation, including:
- coverage of prescription drug costs, not just discounts;
- coverage of pharmacist-provided medication therapy management services;
- patient choice of pharmacy provider;
- administrative efficiencies such as a standard benefit card.
Although the prescription-drug bills are dead, the Senate did vote 78-21 to close loopholes in existing drug patent law. The Senate bill (S. 812) would limit drug companies to only one 30-month extension of their patents, which should help bring generic drugs onto the market sooner. The bill would also permit re-importation of drugs back from Canada.
Pharmaceutical groups reacted strongly against S. 812.
"The Senate’s vote in favor of tinkering with the patent law is an example of election-year politics trouncing good public policy," says Alan F. Holmer, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in Washington, DC. "Seniors and the disabled ultimately are the losers because they’re not getting what they truly need — prescription drug insurance coverage in Medicare."
It’s difficult to understand why the Senate sees an attack on American patents as an appropriate alternative to passage of a Medicare prescription drug coverage plan, says Carl B. Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington, DC. "Senate posturing [that day], were it ever to be enacted, would only hurt the patients it claims to assist. The sad fact is that American seniors are left once again with no Medicare prescription drug coverage while the linchpin of American research and development, the patent system, is put under attack."
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