Asclepios
Get Asclepios free by e-mail every week! Click here to subscribe.
By the Numbers
April 5, 2007 • Volume 7, Issue 14Pharmaceutical companies and drug industry trade groups spent a record $155 million lobbying Congress between January 2005 and June of last year, according to a new study out this week from the watchdog group Center for Public Integrity.
The drug industry sent 1,100 lobbyists scurrying over Capitol Hill in each of the last two years to make sure legislation in its favor gets passed and that unfavorable bills do not. The drug industry’s number one target is to keep a majority of the 540 members of Congress from passing legislation to curb high drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on behalf of the 43 million people with Medicare.
The result?
People with Medicare watch as the prices for their prescriptions spike, leaving them without needed medicines because they simply cannot afford to take them. According to an AARP analysis, manufacturer prices for commonly used brand-name drugs increased 6.2 percent last year, nearly double the cost-of-living increase in Social Security checks.
The pharmaceutical industry lobbied Congress aggressively in 2003 to push passage of the Medicare Modernization Act, the law that created the Medicare drug benefit (Part D). Drug lobbyists got friendly lawmakers to stick in a provision prohibiting the federal government from negotiating lower drug prices for people with Medicare, like the Department of Veterans Affairs does for our veterans and states do for their Medicaid population.
As 60 Minutes reported on April 1, the drug companies soon after gave these same friendly lawmakers lucrative lobbying jobs. Among them is former Congressman Billy Tauzin, now head of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry trade group.
The ban on negotiations has ensured that Part D is a boon to drugmakers’ profits. That is why PhRMA and drug companies are spending millions to make sure the prohibition stays in place.
Enough is enough. Drug coverage that still leaves people unable to afford their medicines is no great benefit. It’s time Congress stands up against the pharmaceutical lobby and passes legislation enabling the government to secure affordable drug prices for people with Medicare. It’s time to start working toward a drug benefit that puts the well-being of older adults and people with disabilities first, ahead of the special interests of the drug industry.
Medical Record
“My out-of-pocket expenses for my medicines have increased. My monthly income is $25 too high to qualify for assistance. I cannot purchase all of my medicines each month because I can’t afford them. So I cut the dosages my doctor prescribes so I can stretch the prescriptions” (Story submitted to the Part D Monitoring Project, Medicare Rights Center, March 16, 2007).
“One effort by lawmakers that drew heavy drug industry lobbying was to undo a provision of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. The legislation, which was passed after a huge lobbying blitz, guarantees that the nation’s seniors and the disabled who receive Medicare are eligible for some form of prescription drug benefit starting in January 2006. The law, often cited as a poster child for the industry’s influence in Washington, bars the federal government from negotiation on prices of drugs supplied through Medicare” (“Spending on Lobbying Thrives,” Center for Public Integrity, April 1, 2007).
“It certainly wasn't ugly for the drug lobby which invested more than $10 million in campaign contributions during the last election and has been a source of lucrative employment opportunities for congressmen when they leave office…In all, at least 15 congressional staffers, congressmen and federal officials left to go to work for the pharmaceutical industry, whose profits were increased by several billion dollars” (“Under the Influence,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, April 1, 2007).
The Medicare Rights Center, Public Citizen and the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices are joining forces on a joint campaign, Truth is the Best Medicine, to answer the pharmaceutical industry’s mythmaking in opposition to drug price negotiations under Medicare. Learn more at http://www.medicarerights.org/truthrx.html.
***** The Medicare Rights Center (MRC) needs to hear about all the problems with the Medicare Part D benefit, whether they happen to you or someone in your community. With this information, we will be armed with the needed evidence to push for a Medicare-administered drug benefit.
Fast Relief: Part D Monitoring Project
Submit your story at www.medicarerights.org/partdstories.html
*****
The Louder Our Voice, the Stronger Our Message Asclepios — named for the Greek and Roman god of medicine who, acclaimed for his healing abilities, was at one point the most worshipped god in Greece—is a weekly e-newsletter designed to keep you up-to-date with Medicare program and policy issues, and advance advocacy strategies to address them. Please help build awareness of key Medicare consumer issues by forwarding this action alert to your friends and encouraging them to subscribe today.
Please send all replies and subscription requests to mrcadvocacyupdate@medicarerights.org.
Get Asclepios free by e-mail every week! Click here to subscribe.