Posted At Insidebayarea.com

BY : Josh Richman

Bay Area seniors are not saving significant money under Medicare's new prescription drug program, according to a report released Monday by most of the Bay Area's House Democrats.
The report says Bay Area prices for 2004's 10 best-selling prescription drugs among seniors are 75 percent higher under the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit than under deals negotiated by the federal government at other

agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Medicare Part D's prices also are 60 percent higher than those paid by consumers in Canada; almost 5 percent higher than prices on Drugstore.com; and almost 2 percent higher than prices at Costco, the report found.

But Republicans who shepherded the bill through Congress rejected a proposal to let Medicare negotiate with drug companies for lower prices.

The report proves "what we've been saying since the debate on the Republican Medicare drug bill began," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, in a news release.

"If you create a privatized drug benefit and refuse to let the government negotiate lower prices, senior citizens and people with disabilities will pay the price," said Stark, who as ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Health Subcommittee is particularly outspoken on the issue. "Instead of attempting to set Medicare on the road to privatization, Republicans in Congress should have worked with Democrats to establish a real prescription benefit within Medicare."

The House Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff prepared the report at the request of Stark, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and members Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; George Miller, D-Martinez; Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo; Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo; Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma; Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; Mike Honda, D-San Jose; and Mike Thompson, D-Napa.

Seniors nationwide have had trouble enrolling in the

two-month-old program; some enrolled but have not shown up in the system's records, leaving them unable to get medicine; and some have discovered the new plan does not cover their drugs.

California lawmakers have let Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spend hundreds of millions of dollars to provide medicine to seniors who otherwise would be turned away or overcharged because of the federal system's glitches. Schwarzenegger has sought assurances from officials including U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt that the state will be repaid for this.

"Bay Area seniors know all too well what this report concludes: That the Republican prescription drug plan was written for special interests, not the people's interests," Pelosi said in the release. "It's simply bad medicine; it does little to help with the spiraling cost of prescription drugs, and adds confusion for everyone."

Democrats want "a complete overhaul of this disastrous Republican plan," she added.

Lantos agreed it is time to "go back to basics, make the choices between plans more simple, clarify the benefits and let the federal government negotiate lower drug prices."

Lee said the report details "the devastating cost of the corrupt Republican Congress writing a bill for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, not the seniors it was meant to serve."

Democrats have introduced bills to tweak the existing program.

H.R. 752, of which Stark and Lee are co-sponsors, would let beneficiaries enroll in a uniform, Medicare-administered drug benefit and let Medicare negotiate with drug companies for lower prices.

Stark's H.R. 3861, of which Miller is a co-sponsor, would extend the new plan's open enrollment through Dec. 31 with no penalty.

And H.R. 4685, of which Stark and Pelosi are co-sponsors, would ensure that all seniors and disabled people whose enrollment cannot be verified at the pharmacy still would receive their medications.