BYRD’S EYE VIEW: Senior Citizens Deserve Affordable Medicines
From the desk of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV
Washington, DC (HNN) -- Senior citizens in West Virginia and across the country right now are deciding whether to re-enroll in the Medicare prescription drug program -- often referred to as Medicare Part D. In West Virginia, more than 326,000 seniors currently participate in the Part D program, part of a group of 43 million Americans enrolled in the prescription coverage plan. While these men and women navigate the options available to them, many seniors also are asking why their prescriptions continue to cost so much. They want affordable medicines, not bureaucratic excuses.
I share that goal of making prescription medicines more affordable. One of the easiest ways for Medicare to help lower the costs for senior citizens is for the agency to use its bargaining power to negotiate directly with the drug companies. But, so far, the Bush Administration has resisted this commonsense idea. I cannot understand why.
Already, the Department of Veterans Affairs uses its bargaining leverage to negotiate cheaper prescription prices for America’s 25 million veterans. Why not give the same benefit to the nation’s senior citizens?
Pharmaceutical companies have raised prices on many top-selling medicines by six percent or more this year -- double the overall inflation rate. Meanwhile, the majority of our senior citizens live on fixed incomes. As their prescription costs rise, they have to make difficult decisions: Do they pay for their medicines? Or do they pay for their food or housing or utilities? While that seems an extreme situation, it is, sadly, a reality facing too many seniors.
The benefit for individual seniors and for the federal government is clear. Independent studies have found that allowing Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry could save the government and Medicare beneficiaries at least $600 billion during the next seven years. That is a significant savings which could help to reduce the burden on American families.
In January, when the new session of Congress begins, I expect that this will be a key issue that we will face. Instead of clinging to Medicare’s status quo, I hope that the Bush Administration will work with the Congress in a bipartisan effort to fix this broken prescription program. Medicare should be allowed to negotiate lower prices with the drug companies. Doing so would help to ease the financial burden facing so many of our senior citizens.