Bill allows drug-cost negotiations

Though she is not a Medicare beneficiary, Costa Mesa senior Anne HoganShereshevsky is concerned for many of her friends who are having trouble affording their medication under the relatively new Part D prescription drug plans.

At the suggestion of AARP, the 86-year-old is busy writing letters to California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, urging them to support legislation that would give Medicare the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices. Such legislation — the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 — was approved in the House of Representatives in January.

“I am looking out for thousands of seniors who have little money and need medications badly,” Hogan-Shereshevsky said.

“The very poor people have Medi-Cal. The very rich people have money. But the people in the middle can’t get the coverage they need, and that needs to change,” she added.

Volunteers with the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program who offer their services at local senior centers said there are many who show concern about the problems and inconsistencies of their current prescription drug plans under Plan D, enacted in 2006 as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.

A service of the California Department of Aging, the nonpartisan program does not officially support or oppose the ability of the federal government to bargain for more favorable rates on prescription medication, but certainly advises seniors with concerns to contact their congressional representatives.

“I can’t say that government intervention here would definitely be the best option, but what we have right now is a confused start of a program that ultimately needs to get a lot better,” said Paul Dorris, a volunteer counselor at the Costa Mesa Senior Center.

“I like the fact that there is a bill because that means somebody is paying attention and looking to make improvements,” he said.

Both Dorris and Hogan-Shereshevsky cited the success the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has had negotiating prescription drug prices for veterans and their families, which they said were considerably lower than those of Plan D subscribers.

But Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell, who was joined by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher as among the 88% of Republicans who voted against the bill earlier this year, called the bill “absolutely absurd,” adding that the current plan is working better than the government initially projected.

Furthermore, he disagreed that the program for veterans has been successful, arguing that the absence of competition set prices too low with the consequence that many drugs are now unavailable to veterans.

“With this bill, you are taking a program that is actually working to increase benefits and lower costs … and replacing it with a system that has been proven to limit benefits and increase costs,” Campbell said. “It’s completely nonsensical.”

Though only somewhat familiar with the bill, Newport Beach resident Marcia Mordkin, who sought counseling on her 100-year-old mother’s healthcare situation from Dorris on Thursday, said she would be inclined to support it because there are “big gaps” in the availability of drugs to seniors.

“I think we need someone to fix the current situation,” she said. “If it’s the government, sure. We just need somebody.”