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Senate Rejects Medicare Drug Plan, OKs Generics
Wed Jul 31, 4:51 PM ET
By Joanne Kenen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill designed to make it
easier for consumers to get cheaper generic "copycat" drugs but deadlocked on
the politically sensitive issue of adding a prescription drug benefit to
Medicare.
After the Senate rejected a fourth and final Medicare drug proposal, Democrats
and Republicans immediately began swapping charges of playing politics with
Medicare -- a top concern of voters in November's congressional elections.
At the same time, lawmakers predicted that if they get an earful from
disgruntled constituents during the August recess, they could return to the
Capitol in September with a new-found appetite for finding the middle ground
that has eluded them for the last five years.
"We will continue to seek the formula that unlocks 60 votes," the number
required to overcome procedural hurdles in the 100-member Senate, said Florida
Democrat Sen. Bob Graham, a leading proponent of adding a drug benefit to the
37-year-old federal health program for the elderly and disabled.
The generics bill, which aims to make it easier for generic drugs to make it
onto the market, seemed like a long-shot earlier in the year. But it kept
gaining ground and passed with a bipartisan landslide 78-21 vote.
The House however has not yet taken up legislation on generic drugs, fiercely
opposed by the influential brand-name pharmaceutical companies, but a strong
Senate vote can sometimes create momentum in the House.
New York Democrat Charles Schumer and Arizona Republican John McCain, the main
sponsors of the generics legislation, said it would save $60 billion over 10
years, with most of that savings going directly to consumers.
The bill closes loopholes and stops abuses in drug patent law that have delayed
generics' entry into the market. Critics said it will stifle innovation and
research by brand-name companies, but backers said it will restore the
competitive balance between the two sectors.
The Schumer-McCain bill also could allow imports of cheaper drugs from Canada,
although that faces some safety certification hurdles which could block its
implementation.
During the grinding two week debate, the Senate rejected four separate proposals
on Medicare drugs, with 10-year price tags ranging from under $300 billion to
nearly $600 billion.
The fourth and final vote came on Wednesday, when the Senate voted 49-50 against
a $400 billion plan by Graham and Oregon Republican Gordan Smith that would
focus benefits on old people with low incomes and those with drug costs above
$3,300 a year.
'ROAD BLOCK'
For Democrats, who had wanted a comprehensive plan giving benefits across all
income levels, the Graham-Smith bill was a concession, so much so that a few of
them voted against it.
But most Republicans lambasted it for costing more and doing less than their own
preferred approach that would rely more heavily on private insurers or health
maintenance organizations (HMOs).
Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania charged that Democrats would
"milk" Medicare politically until "they realize the udder is dry."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, accused Republicans of giving
"lip service" to Medicare drug benefits but backing private-sector proposals
that won't do the job.
Many polls have shown that Medicare is one of the top issues in the November
congressional elections, when control of both the House and Senate is at stake.
And senior citizens are more likely to vote than other age groups in off-year
elections, when there is no presidential race.
The issue will not go away, and it will get even costlier to solve with each
passing year. A new eight-state study by the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, the
Commonwealth Fund and Tufts-New England Medical Center released on Wednesday
found that one in four elderly people said they skip doses of their medicine or
don't get prescriptions filled because they can't afford them.