Judge stops Medicare Rx discount program again
Bush administration may turn to Congress next
The Bush administration’s latest try at proposing a Medicare drug discount plan was shot down by a federal judge Jan. 29. Now the administration says it may turn to Congress for help.
Judge Paul L. Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted an injunction against the program at the request of several pharmacist support organizations. Friedman said the administration did not have the statutory authority to develop and implement the program. The same judge had stopped the administration’s original program with an injunction in September 2001.
Pharmacists overwhelmingly cheered the judge’s decision. "This flawed program was a false promise, and one that would have cost both pharmacists and our patients," says John A. Gans, PharmD, executive vice president of the American Pharmaceutical Association in Washington, DC. "This is a significant victory for the patients we serve."
"We applaud the court’s decision," says Bruce Roberts, RPh, executive vice president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association in Alexandria, VA. "This proposal would have caused considerable harm to many of the nation’s community pharmacies."
The Bush administration isn’t down for the count yet; it still seems resolved to offer a discount pharmacy card to Medicare recipients. "There is no question the administration is going to pursue [the issue] legislatively," Medicare administrator Tom Scully told reporters.
Pharmacist groups say they are ready for the challenge. "[This decision] shifts the debate back to Congress, where a number of creative solutions and viewpoints should be considered," says S. Lawrence Kocot, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores in Alexandria, VA.
The Bush administrations latest try at proposing a Medicare drug discount plan was shot down by a federal judge Jan. 29. Now the administration says it may turn to Congress for help.
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