The Bend Bulletin: Merkley Seeks Medicare Change

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Merkley Seeks Medicare Change

Source: The Bend Bulletin

By Keith Chu

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., made his own mark on the health care debate this week, gathering 21 signatures on a letter asking for a major reform of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, as part of any health care overhaul bill.

Merkley, joined by a bevy of mostly liberal Democrats, asked the Senate Finance Committee to change the 2003 law that prevents Medicare from negotiating with drug manufacturers over the price of prescription medications. The ban was put in place when the Medicare drug benefit, also called Medicare Part D, was created. But Merkley wants to go further, creating a government-run prescription drug plan within Medicare, to provide competition with private plans.

At a time when politicians are scraping together ways to expand health coverage, it only makes sense to get rid of a law that costs billions, Merkley wrote, in his letter to Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

"(T)he fact that Americans pay more than twice as much as other industrialized countries for worse health outcomes indicate that there are tremendous inefficiencies embedded in the system," Merkley wrote. "If we are to succeed in health reform, we cannot allow those inefficiencies to remain."

The U.S. House health care bill doesn't eliminate the ban on negotiating over prices, but it makes a similar change that would save the government about $63 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate Finance Committee has not yet released a bill.

Lowering drug costs would lead to lower premiums for seniors enrolled in the Medicare drug program, Merkley said. The Department Veterans Affairs pays up to 58 percent less than Medicare for prescriptions because it has the ability to negotiate over prices, according to Merkley.

Merkley's co-signers included Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Patty Murray, D-Wash.

In an interview with The Bulletin and other reporters on Friday, President Barack Obama said he believes drug manufacturers are willing to negotiate further to lower prescription drug costs to the government, but he didn't mention Merkley's effort.

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