Prescription Drug Benefit, Drug Patent Reform Bills Not Likely to Become Law, CQ’s Goldreich Says

By proposing competing Medicare prescription drug benefit plans last week, Democrats and Republicans are "staking out ground" to continue debate on the issue through the November elections, Congressional Quarterly senior reporter Samuel Goldreich says in this week's "Congressional Quarterly Audio Report." Although the issue likely will dominate upcoming campaigns and possibly the 2004 presidential election, Goldreich predicts President Bush will not sign a prescription drug benefit this year. Last week, House Republicans and Senate Democrats announced plans that would cover drug bills for seniors with annual incomes up to 135% of the federal poverty level and would partially cover seniors with incomes between 135% and 150% of poverty. Under the House plan, proposed by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), other beneficiaries would pay a $250 annual deductible and Medicare would cover 70% of their drug costs up to $1,000 per year, 50% of their drug costs between $1,000 and $2,500 per year and 100% of their drug costs higher than $5,000 per year. Other Republicans are considering a measure that would not cover any drug costs between $2,000 and $4,000 per year. As for the Democrats' plan, Democratic Sens. Bob Graham (Fla.) and Zell Miller (Ga.) proposed a plan that would cover 50% of beneficiaries' drug costs up to $4,000 per year and all drug costs above that amount. Goldreich says that a key difference between the plans is that Republicans want private insurance companies to bear the risk of providing the drug benefit, while Democrats want the risk divided between Medicare and private pharmacy benefit managers. The Republican plan, which legislators say will be passed by Memorial Day, has the support of Hastert and 43 other sponsors, while the Democrat plan, which has only two sponsors, "might not ever make it to the floor." (For more on the prescription drug bills, see story 1).

Generic Drugs
At a May 7 Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, legislators will take "a close look" at expanding patients' access to generic drugs, Goldreich says. A bill proposed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) would allow the import of generic versions of American-made drugs from Canada, where drug safety regulations are "similar" to those in the United States. Another bill proposed by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) would make it more difficult for pharmaceutical companies to prevent generic competition on their drugs by extending patents. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he might schedule a markup on such a bill in light of recent patent abuses by drug companies. However, there is "little appetite" to pass a similar bill proposed in the House, Goldreich writes. Goldreich's full report is available online (Goldreich, "Congressional Quarterly Audio Report," 5/6). Goldreich's full report is available online. A HealthCast of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on generics will be available online after 5 p.m. May 7.