Bipartisan Commission Should Examine Prescription Drug Prices Before Congress Passes a Medicare Benefit

Federal lawmakers and the Bush administration should establish a bipartisan commission to determine "whether the [pharmaceutical] pricing process operates freely and fairly" before Congress adds a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Heinz Family Philanthropies Executive Director Jeffrey Lewis writes in a Detroit Free Press opinion piece. Lewis writes that lawmakers must determine "why drug prices have risen far more quickly than inflation" and develop a "strategy for responding to the problem of skyrocketing drug costs" before they establish a prescription drug benefit for seniors, or "it is likely to end up costing more than Medicare can afford." Although pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the development of new treatments, "some of the cost factors are extraneous to this process," he adds. According to Lewis, lawmakers do not have access to information about the "actual costs" of prescription drug development and that "any meaningful attempt to estimate or legislate regarding prescription drugs is hampered by the complete lack of reliable information regarding the pricing process." He recommends that Congress and the Bush administration establish a bipartisan National Commission on the Price of Prescription Drugs that would have access to "all the proprietary pricing and manufacturer data required" to determine whether the "American people and Medicare are being price-gouged." Lewis concludes that "it would be irresponsible for Congress to act" on a Medicare prescription drug benefit without "acknowledging the relative dependability of estimates, weighing the impact on possible coverage for long-term care and exploring options for reining in drug prices" (Lewis, Detroit Free Press, 8/28).