Seniors see Democrats offering hope on drug costs

WASHINGTON -- In their first 100 hours of controlling Congress, Democratic leaders say , they will rewrite Medicare's prescription drug benefit to allow the government to negotiate lower prices for consumers.

The Democrats promise to use the savings to eliminate the benefit's so-called doughnut hole, a coverage gap between $2,250 and $5,100 in annual drug spending that forces many seniors to pay thousands of dollars in prescription drug costs. Henry A. Waxman , a California congressman , says trimming drug prices by just 25 percent would save individuals $500 a year , and a total of $61 billion nationwide over a decade .

"If we get back the majority in either the House or the Senate, it's a pretty good bet that we will have the leverage to allow Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies, get the prices of drugs down, and cover more people," said Senator Charles E. Schumer , Democrat of New York and head of Senate Democrats' election campaign.

Representative Nancy Pelosi , who would likely become House Speaker , pledges to act quickly on a six-item to-do list that includes fixing the Medicare Part D drug benefit, said Brendan Daly , spokesman for the California Democrat .

Among seniors who place healthcare among their top voting issues, Democrats have an advantage, according to a report in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine .

Like an estimated 6 million Americans, Betty and William R. Prendergast have entered into the doughnut hole. The Wayland couple must pay the full cost of prescription drugs until they each reach the $5,100 spending threshold and are again covered. Betty Prendergast, 81 , is a breast cancer survivor who also takes drugs for emphysema , high blood pressure, and arthritis . William Prendergast has diabetes . For now, they dip into savings, paying hundreds of dollars monthly for essential treatments.

"We still eat. We still pay the bills," said William Prendergast, 83 . "I don't work any more. And, we intend to live a while longer. So, we're digging into what is in the bank."

Lobbyists for the drug industry said plans that purchase prescription remedies on behalf of tens of millions of Americans already negotiate with manufacturers to lower Part D costs.

"That's the marketplace in action and that's how America's seniors will see true savings without compromising the search for future cures," said Ken Johnson , senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America , or PhRMA .

But the prospect of government price negotiations so concerns UBS analyst Roopesh Patel that he recently downgraded the pharmaceutical sector. "The November US midterm elections represent headwinds, given that Republicans could lose control of the House, even the Senate," which would be a "negative for pharma," he wrote in a research note this week.

Patel is among the analysts predicting that President Bush would veto any Part D reform measures. A White House spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the nine months since Medicare began covering seniors' prescription drug purchases, revenue for the pharmaceutical industry has increased. IMS Health , a healthcare information company, expects Part D revenues to account for nearly half of next year's 4 percent to 5 percent projected growth in the United States pharmaceutical market.

The pharmaceutical and health product industries, meanwhile, have funneled more than $10.2 million into the coffers of Republicans this election year, more than twice the $4.5 million donated to Democrats , according to the Center for Responsive Politics .

The US Chamber of Commerce , with the help of PhRMA , spent $10 million on advertising earlier in the election season and, in its waning days, is spending another $10 million.

Neither party, however, has a clear advantage when it comes to Part D, according to a Harvard School of Public Health professor who is lead author of yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine special report.

"Both the Republicans and the Democrats, in some sense, have won on the drug bill," said Robert J. Blendon , a health policy and political analysis professor. "What the Republicans have succeeded in doing is to reduce the share of older voters who mention Medicare as an issue in voting. But of those who still care, Democrats have the edge."

William Prendergast is among those expecting Democrats will lower the prescription prices.

"Part D was not written by the House or the Senate. It was written by the drug companies," he said. "The Republicans merely passed it on to us, America's seniors," he said. "Democrats don't care about the guys at the top of the drug companies; they're already making too much money. They care about America's seniors."

Diedtra Henderson can be reached at dhenderson@globe.com.