I paused last night while watching CNN, and had to laugh when a commercial from Big Pharma came on; telling seniors to oppose plans by the Democrats in Congress to lower prices for drugs. The line being floated as always is that "competition" contributes to the march towards lower prices, that the relatively new "Part D" benefit with Medicare is working and government "bureaucracy" will stifle innovation and new drugs.
The issue stems from a controversial clause in the Part D legislation that prohibits the US government -- prohibits it -- from buying in bulk to give seniors a more reasonable price. It's frustrating when one considers that the Department of Veterans Affairs has this authority and has used it like a hammer for years. In effect, those who wore the uniform and were not dishonourably discharged can often get discounts as much as 90% the going rate for civilians.
Back when the law was being considered a couple of years ago, this was red-flagged as a potential Achilles' heel. When it came to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, the cynical House leadership then led by Tom Delay managed to extend a 15 minute vote to 3 hours as member after member were bullied into supporting it -- which wound up passing just barely.
We now know Big Pharma misled Congress as to the upfront costs which are massive. Medicare which already was suffering under a massive unfunded liability as the Baby Boom enters retirement is now chocking as patients are forced into even more paperwork and being obliged to elect whether to change providers every twelve months. Have prices gone down as intended? Not by much. In fact, a lot of drugs have exploded in price -- especially the "me too" drugs which are just carbon copies of existing drugs but which manage to get patent protection.
Why should veterans have more rights than the rest of people? Long ago, Canada decided that seniors and welfare recipients would get their drugs at little or no cost -- and the price set for them could be exceeded by pharmacists for the rest of Canadians by no more than five percent. Innovation has not been stifled as claimed twenty years ago would happen when extended patent protection was demanded -- we insisted on price regulation as the trade off. Today, we have not only a homegrown drug industry but also numerous branch plants of the biggest companies from the States and the EU. Many drugs here are 50 to 80% less than the American price -- for the exact same drugs.
The "innovation" and "research" claims are red herrings. They will continue nonetheless. But social security should cover all ends. Seniors should not have to live in indignity, being forced into bankruptcy because they still can't afford the medication.
Congress should pass the proposed law to give the US government the authority to negotiate better prices -- and by a large enough margin that Bush's veto threat is made a joke. And until then, a message to Americans who still drive up here to get our better prices: They are our drugs. We'll take care of our own first. If there's any left over, then and only then we'll sell you the surplus.
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