Only House drug bill would benefit state economy
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:04 AM PST
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E-mail this articleSenate Majority Leader Jim West insists that the Republican majority in the Senate has little interest in legislation that isn't aimed at improving Washington's struggling economy.
If so, Senate leaders ought to drop the costly prescription drug plan they've been considering.
A House plan, which survived last week's cutoff deadline for non-budget bills, would be far more beneficial to the economy. It promises to both cut the state's medical bills and leave more dollars in the pockets of seniors and other uninsured consumers.
The Senate prescription drug bill would saddle state government with a new health care benefit costing an estimated $15 million over the biennium. Yet few Washingtonians would share in this new benefit -- only seniors age 65 and older with annual incomes of less than $13,290.
The House-approved bill would benefit virtually all seniors and other state residents who lack prescription drug coverage. At the same time, it would save state government upwards of $20 million over the next biennium.
The House version's savings for both consumers and the state would be realized through the creation of a state preferred drug list, or formulary, and a drug purchasing consortium.
Preferred drug lists are used by nearly all private health plans to reduce their prescription drug costs. It's a process that starts with a review of all drugs in the same class by a scientific panel to determine which drugs are most effective.
When two drugs are found to be equally effective, the cheaper of the two is listed as the preferred drug. People receiving health care through state programs would automatically be prescribed the preferred drug unless their doctor specifically prescribed the more expensive drug.
The proposed drug purchasing consortium would simply pool the buying power of all state agencies that purchase prescription drugs, and negotiate discount prices -- also in much the same way as private health plans negotiate discounts.
Businesses, private groups and residents who lack drug coverage would be allowed to join this purchasing consortium and benefit from the negotiated discounts.
So which bill offers the greater benefit to the state's struggling economy -- the narrowly focused Senate bill that would add $15 million to the $2.4 billion budget shortfall or the broader House bill that would shave health-care spending by $20 million over the next two years and cut drug costs for nearly all Washingtonians?
The answer is obvious. We urge legislators not to let a powerful pharmaceutical industry obscure the obvious, as has happened each of the past two years.
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