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Bill McBride's plan involves a having a buyers' group negotiate with drug companies for lower prescription prices.
By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 17, 2002
HOLLYWOOD -- Surrounded by retirees with complaints about the cost of prescription drugs, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride on Wednesday unveiled plans to deal with the problem, including a discount program for nearly 1-million low-income Floridians.
He also proposed lumping senior citizens, state employees and Medicaid recipients into a buying pool that could negotiate lower prices from drug companies.
That was the centerpiece of Janet Reno's prescription plan during the Democratic primary, which critics said was easier said than done.
McBride's new plan comes after weeks of TV commercials featuring Gov. Jeb Bush talking to senior citizens about his own prescription drug plan, and criticism that McBride didn't have one.
"The pharmaceutical companies will negotiate with you. But in order to negotiate, you need to approach them, and you need to approach them with a strong position of your own," McBride told about 200 people at the North Park Retirement Community in Hollywood.
"Right now, the governor does not have a strong position against the pharmaceutical industry, and he's not going to."
Bush's campaign, meanwhile, called McBride's plan overly hopeful and soft on details.
McBride criticized Bush for telling a "half-truth" about Bush's own prescription drug plan because it helps only a fraction of Florida's senior citizens.
Under the governor's version, called Silver Savers, the state received federal support to cover drugs for seniors who are poor, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.
Bush has been touting Silver Savers as his answer to high drug costs, although it is open only to seniors who make about $10,000 or less annually.
McBride and his supporters noted only 58,000 people are eligible, which they said does not make it a meaningful program in a state with millions of senior citizens.
At North Park, state Rep. Eleanor Soble, D-Hollywood, asked who in the room had seen Bush's ad.
Most of the 200 people raised their hands.
"Has your prescription drug cost gone down at all because of that program?" she asked.
The room buzzed no.
"Two percent of the population qualify for that prescription drug program. Ninety-eight percent are not affected," Soble said.
The room buzzed again.
Bush's program, however, is more generous: It provides up to $160 per month for drugs, and participants pay just $2 per prescription.
Under McBride's proposal, people who make up to twice the federal poverty level, or about $17,000, would be eligible for a 30 percent discount on their prescription medication.
That would affect nearly 1-million residents, McBride said. Not all of them would be senior citizens.
McBride estimated the state's share at $10-million to $15-million a year, while the federal government would pay about $150-million.
But it's not assured McBride would get the federal support he needs. Under Bush's plan, the federal government already contributes about $80-million, while the state's share is $29-million.
McBride also did not say where he would find the money in the state budget.
At North Park, one resident told him she had saved $900 a year by buying from Canada.
If Canada and other countries can demand lower drug prices, so can the United States, McBride said. "There's no logic to it and it's damaging and it hurts people."
However, the Canadian government set those prices, and the centralized medical system there is often plagued by long delays for care.
The drug industry also claims capping prices in the United States will reduce their budgets for researching new cures.
Both McBride and Bush have acknowledged that the only way to significantly address rising drug costs for seniors is to provide prescription medications through Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly.
Congress has been debating competing plans for years, and McBride said he would be a more aggressive advocate for it than Bush.