Potential Candidates Discuss Prescription Drugs on Campaign Trail

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) on July 29 met with South Carolina seniors and Democrats and called for a Medicare prescription drug benefit and for universal health coverage in the United States, the Charlotte Observer reports. Gephardt, who may run for president in 2004, said that he would "work hard" to reduce pharmaceutical costs and to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. "We need to get people the prescription drugs they need because that's the modern way to treat disease, and that's the way to keep people out of the hospital," he said. Gephardt also said that the United States should adopt a system of universal health insurance. "We've got to get everybody in this country covered with health care," Gephardt said, adding, "This is the richest country in the history of the world. It is unacceptable that we have 40, 50 million people who don't have health insurance." Political analysts consider South Carolina's February 2004 primary "pivotal" in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination (Talhelm, Charlotte Observer, 7/30).

New Hampshire Senate Race
In New Hampshire, U.S. senatorial candidate Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) on July 29 promised that if elected, she would support legislation to eliminate a tax deduction pharmaceutical companies receive for television advertisements that promote their prescription drugs, the Nashua Telegraph reports. Shaheen added that pharmaceutical companies should have to publicly disclose their research and development costs. "It would be so clear that cost is much less than the cost they are charging to consumers," she said. Shaheen said that she supports a generic drug bill (S 812) passed this week in the Senate that would "close loopholes used to keep generic drugs off the market," allow the reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada and permit states to establish prescription drug purchasing pools. She also said she would have voted in favor a Democratic-sponsored bill defeated last week in the Senate that would have established a Medicare prescription drug benefit at an estimated cost of $594 billion over seven years (Landrigan, Nashua Telegraph, 7/30).

North Carolina Senate Race
In North Carolina, the debate over a Medicare prescription drug benefit has become "one of the powerful issues" in the race for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. North Carolina has 969,000 residents ages 65 and older -- more than half of whom do not have prescription drug coverage -- and the state's senatorial candidates have promoted several Medicare prescription drug benefit proposals, "vying to be seen as a champion for the elderly." Several Democratic candidates -- Erksine Bowles, Dan Blue and Elaine Marshall -- have said that Medicare should cover most prescription drug costs for seniors. They also support patent law reforms that would to "make it easier" for generic drug companies to market lower-cost treatments. Democratic candidate Cynthia Browns advocates a national health insurance system that includes prescription drug coverage. Republican candidate Elizabeth Dole, however, favors a "more limited" Medicare prescription drug benefit that would cover the cost of prescription drugs for seniors only after their annual out-of-pocket expenses reach a certain level. Dole also said that Congress should study patent law reform and address the issue "in a reasonable, thoughtful manner" (Christensen, Raleigh New & Observer, 7/31).