The U.S. Senate has voted against a bill proposing to allow the federal government to negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices.
The vote comes as a disappointment to House Democrats and a coalition of backers including Families USA and AARP who hoped to get Senate support of a similar House bill passed in January.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) member of the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Republican Conference Chairman today hailed the Senate's decision to prevent changes to the current Medicare prescription drug program.
"Today's vote is a victory for seniors," Kyl said. "The Democrats' plan to allow the government to fix drug prices would have restricted seniors' access to critical prescription drugs and put the government, rather than patients and their doctors, in charge of deciding which medicines should be prescribed. The Senate today chose access over restrictions, choice over government mandates, and competition over price controls."
An April report issued by Families USA claims that competition is not working and private plans "have done little to slow the inexorable rise in drug prices."
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) , co-sponsors of the Senate bill -titled the Lower PRICED Drugs Act (Lower Prices with Increased Competition and Efficient Economic Development of Drugs)- said their bill could help lower the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs and save the federal government up to $30 billion a year.
"We need to stop drug companies from using patent loopholes to keep lower priced generics off the shelf and out of patients' hands," Stabenow said. "Making generics more available will increase competition and lower costs, which is good for everyone. Americans deserve the best prices possible for medicine that is critical to their health or even their lives."
At an April 18 press conference, Stabenow released a study conducted by Families USA reported to highlight the rising cost of prescription drugs under current Medicare Part D plans.
According to the report, which examines Part D drug plan price changes from April 2006 to April 2007 for the top 15 drugs prescribed to seniors, the median Part D drug price increase was 9.2 percent - almost four times the latest inflation rate and almost three times the increase in this year's cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security.
"Only special interest groups benefit from the current policy, and I am disappointed that a minority of the Senate blocked our efforts to change that policy this morning," Stabenow said. "The fight to let Medicare negotiate lower drugs will continue - it is in the best interest of seniors, families, and taxpayers."
In an April 10 letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), CBO said price negotiations via the federal government would have a "negligible effect" on the Medicare drug spending.
Among supporters of the Stabenow-Lott bill are the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans, California Public Employees' Retirement System, Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Market, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, Generic Pharmaceutical Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, and United Auto Workers.