The Democratically controlled House of Representatives voted a week ago to let the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients. It's a good idea but, by design, stops short of what's really needed.
The best way to rein in spending is to create a drug plan under the traditional Medicare model. The government would charge low premiums, and seniors could benefit from its tremendous purchasing power.
Democrats briefly flirted with that idea last month. But in an acknowledgement of the pharmaceutical industry's formidable lobbying clout on both sides of the congressional aisle, they abandoned that plan for a more general strategy that could win quick approval. Cowards.
The Medicare drug plan passed by a Republican-controlled Congress in 2003 prohibits the federal government from negotiating on behalf of the elderly and disabled, as it now does for veterans. Instead, the drug benefit is provided only by private insurance companies.
Republicans opposed last week's measure on familiar grounds. As Rep. Eric Cantor complained: "The government should not get between people and their doctor."
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Nope. That space is reserved for insurance companies.
It's an odd argument. Surveys consistently have shown that elderly Americans are more satisfied with traditional Medicare than younger workers are with private insurance provided through their jobs.
Even so, President George W. Bush is threatening to veto the Democrats' drug measure. He argues that there's no need for it, because privately run drug plans are costing less than originally projected. But that's not the same thing as driving a hard bargain to get the best price for the taxpayers' bucks.
To give consumers a choice, Congress should set up a Medicare drug plan run by the government and allow it to compete with the privately run plans now in existence. Medicare's lower overhead would let it undercut the prices private plans charge. It is an article of Republican ideology that competition in the marketplace will hold down prices. It's time to find out.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
