Senators: Drugmakers Will Pay More For Health Bill
Several said that expectation was a factor Tuesday, when more than a dozen Democrats reversed their previous positions and voted to kill a Senate effort to allow low-cost drugs to be imported into the U.S. The extra money would be used to close the so-called doughnut hole, the temporary gap in prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients.
Several health care lobbyists said they understood that drugmakers would contribute about $20 billion above the $80 billion over 10 years they agreed to provide in a June deal with the White House and the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Some lobbyists and lawmakers used higher figures.
“Some assurances were made that the doughnut hole would be filled” with money from drug companies, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Wednesday when asked why so many Democrats – including himself – had switched to oppose the importation proposal. He said he was told of the assurances by other Senate Democrats.
Testers comments were echoed by other two other senators, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe conversations with colleagues.
Quickly closing the drug coverage gap has become an important priority for Democrats, who would like their health care drive to produce something tangible for the nations influential older voters in time for next years elections. It is also a top goal of AARP, the powerful lobby for senior citizens.
Asked whether the drug industry will pay for closing the coverage gap, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said, “Thats my understanding. But I have not seen anything in writing.”
Ken Johnson, senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the trade group has had no discussions with White House or Senate officials about closing the Medicare coverage gap. He said the deal limiting the industrys contributions to $80 billion was “ironclad,” but he did not rule out a higher amount.
“No one has asked us to date to provide any additional funding,” he said. “Will that change moving forward? Who knows?”
Tester, who said closing the drug coverage gap was a major priority for his constituents, said he did not believe the extra drug industry funds were a direct trade-off for the defeat of the importation amendment.
But he added, “If the pharmaceutical companies filled the doughnut hole, if theyre going to do me a favor, Ill work with them.”
Lawmakers comments underscored the complex and interrelated decisions Senate Democrats face as they try to complete their huge health overhaul package before Christmas. The Senate is in its third week of debating the measure.
Drugmakers lobbied against the importation proposal. Backing them were the Obama administration and Senate Democratic leaders, who want to retain the industrys support for the drive to reshape the U.S. health care system.
According to some lobbyists, Democrats are considering getting the $20 billion from pharmaceutical benefit managers, firms that administer drug benefits for many companies. Mark Merritt, president of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, said he had heard that figure and other amounts being discussed and said his group was lobbying against the proposal.
“I believe this is a last-minute, back-of-the-envelope scramble for any offsets that can be contributed” to paying for closing the drug coverage gap, he said. He said the proposal would raise patients costs for the drugs they use.
Senate Democratic leaders pledged this week to join the House in moving to completely close the doughnut hole by 2019.
Both chambers bills would narrow next years $3,610 coverage gap by $500 next year. Both would also offer a 50 percent discount on the cost of brand name drugs for people in the gap, money that comes from the $80 billion drugmakers promised in their June deal.
The House-passed bill goes much further than the Senates, closing the gap over 10 years by squeezing rebates from pharmaceutical companies.