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I am biased on this issue, but it ain't cheap to develop new drugs that could save many other people, but I also agree that the proper care should be given to everyone. Is this more a case of price control or is it a poor excuse for inadequate health care programs?
Supreme Court looks at Maine drug law
Lawyer says one state should make others pay for lower drug costs
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One state should not be allowed to force drug companies to lower prices for its residents and stick the rest of the nation with the bill, a lawyer for the industry argued Wednesday before the Supreme Court.
An experimental program in Maine would use the buying power of the state under the federal Medicaid law to win lower drug prices for the working poor, retirees and others who do not receive health coverage or drug benefits through their jobs.
State officials have said the program simply does for one state what other countries have done for all their citizens -- force the drug companies to bargain. Prescription drug prices are often much lower across the border in Canada, in part because of government price caps there.
Drug firms say Maine oversteps state authority under the federal Medicaid law, which governs how states are reimbursed for the health care costs of poor residents.
"The statute does not allow states to use Medicaid patients as pawns," attorney Carter Phillips argued on behalf of drug companies.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America also contends the state program is an unconstitutional regulation of interstate commerce.
If the court rules in favor of the Maine program, other states would soon try the same thing, lawyers on both sides of the debate have said. The state estimates its program, known as Maine Rx, would help more than 300,000 people who do not have prescription drug coverage.
If prices didn't drop in three years, the state could impose price controls.
Twenty-eight states are backing Maine, and about a dozen are poised to pass similar laws quickly if the Supreme Court agrees with the state.
Business groups and conservative legal organizations sided with the drug industry, which lost a lower-court attempt to overturn the 2000 law. The law is on hold pending the drug companies' appeal.
The Bush administration is taking the middle ground. The government urged the court to block the law, but argued that Maine Rx would be legal if restricted to low-income state residents.
Richard Morgan, a government professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, said the state is trying to put drug companies over a barrel.
"The potential here is for America to back into some form of drug price control, and that seems to me an unfortunate outcome," Morgan said. "Maybe we should have drug price controls, but if we do, that should be after a full national debate and some action by Congress."
Congress has repeatedly tried and failed to pass laws adding prescription drug coverage to the federal Medicare program for the elderly.
President Bush will ask Congress to pass a GOP-backed prescription drug program for the elderly during his State of the Union speech next Tuesday.
Maine's program affects the separate Medicaid program for the poor, but opponents note that wealthier people could also benefit.
The case is Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America v. Concannon, 01-188.
Lawyer says one state should make others pay for lower drug costs
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One state should not be allowed to force drug companies to lower prices for its residents and stick the rest of the nation with the bill, a lawyer for the industry argued Wednesday before the Supreme Court.
An experimental program in Maine would use the buying power of the state under the federal Medicaid law to win lower drug prices for the working poor, retirees and others who do not receive health coverage or drug benefits through their jobs.
State officials have said the program simply does for one state what other countries have done for all their citizens -- force the drug companies to bargain. Prescription drug prices are often much lower across the border in Canada, in part because of government price caps there.
Drug firms say Maine oversteps state authority under the federal Medicaid law, which governs how states are reimbursed for the health care costs of poor residents.
"The statute does not allow states to use Medicaid patients as pawns," attorney Carter Phillips argued on behalf of drug companies.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America also contends the state program is an unconstitutional regulation of interstate commerce.
If the court rules in favor of the Maine program, other states would soon try the same thing, lawyers on both sides of the debate have said. The state estimates its program, known as Maine Rx, would help more than 300,000 people who do not have prescription drug coverage.
If prices didn't drop in three years, the state could impose price controls.
Twenty-eight states are backing Maine, and about a dozen are poised to pass similar laws quickly if the Supreme Court agrees with the state.
Business groups and conservative legal organizations sided with the drug industry, which lost a lower-court attempt to overturn the 2000 law. The law is on hold pending the drug companies' appeal.
The Bush administration is taking the middle ground. The government urged the court to block the law, but argued that Maine Rx would be legal if restricted to low-income state residents.
Richard Morgan, a government professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, said the state is trying to put drug companies over a barrel.
"The potential here is for America to back into some form of drug price control, and that seems to me an unfortunate outcome," Morgan said. "Maybe we should have drug price controls, but if we do, that should be after a full national debate and some action by Congress."
Congress has repeatedly tried and failed to pass laws adding prescription drug coverage to the federal Medicare program for the elderly.
President Bush will ask Congress to pass a GOP-backed prescription drug program for the elderly during his State of the Union speech next Tuesday.
Maine's program affects the separate Medicaid program for the poor, but opponents note that wealthier people could also benefit.
The case is Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America v. Concannon, 01-188.
I am biased on this issue, but it ain't cheap to develop new drugs that could save many other people, but I also agree that the proper care should be given to everyone. Is this more a case of price control or is it a poor excuse for inadequate health care programs?
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