US House votes to force Medicare drug negotiations
Last Updated: 2007-01-12 16:24:35 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to require the government to negotiate directly with drug companies to obtain to lower drug prices for seniors, ignoring a White House threat to veto the Democratic measure.
The bill, the latest in the "first 100-hours" agenda that helped Democrats win control of Congress in last year's elections, would instruct the government to negotiate with drug companies to get lower prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the drug program through private plans.
The bill passed on a vote of 255-170, with 24 Republicans joining the Democratic majority in support of it.
Democrats said it would save money for the government health care program for the elderly and disabled, but Republican opponents and the White House said it would limit the availability of drugs while achieving no cost savings. They argued that government negotiations would be the same as imposing price controls and that competition among private insurers is working to drive down drug prices.
"The cost of the drug program has plummeted by 30 percent because of competition," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio argued. "The competition between dozens of plan providers is driving down costs for seniors and taxpayers alike."
But Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland argued the bill would improve on the Medicare drug plan passed in 2003 by the then Republican-led Congress, which chose to have private insurers run the drug program rather than the government.
"This legislation repeals a misguided provision in current law that explicitly prohibits the secretary of Health and Human Services from entering into negotiations with drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs for the 43 million beneficiaries of Medicare," Hoyer told the House.
The bill now goes to the narrowly divided Senate, where strong Republican opposition could block it. The White House said President George W. Bush would veto the House bill saying it would provide no substantial savings to the government or Medicare beneficiaries.
"If this bill is presented to the president, he will veto," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, strongly opposes. He told reporters that it would limit choices and end up raising drug costs for many people.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said in a statement that the Medicare drug program is working well for most beneficiaries, but that in some cases seniors are not able to obtain affordable medicines through the program.
Baucus said that at a minimum the prohibition against the government negotiating prices should be eliminated but said the House bill requiring government negotiations should be discussed.
