Democratic leader joins Berkley to unveil prescription drug pricing study

Trevor Hayes

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 3:38 a.m.

Medicare counselor Jackie Ridley has seen senior citizens forced to choose between buying food and paying for their medicine.

She also knows personally how much drugs can cost - in her case it was $1,000 a month when her husband suffered congestive heart failure last year.

That was one reason Ridley stood with Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt Thursday to publicize the issue of prescription drug cost.

"For people who are below the poverty line there are a few options," said Ridley. "But most seniors are just above the poverty line. When (seniors) call I tell them there's nothing I can do to help. It's just devastating."

Berkley has heard it many times, from constituents who come to her and complain aobut the high prices of prescription drugs for Nevadans that don't belong to an HMO or have health insurance.

A recent study by a House committee showed people in Berkley's district who don't have insurance coverage pay far more for prescription drugs than consumers in Canada and Mexico. It calls prescription drug pricing discriminatory.

Gephardt joined Berkley to announce that they will fight rising prescription drug prices by proposing changes in the Medicare program.

"We are fighting for changing the Medicare program so there is a prescription drug program for seniors," Gephardt said.

Gephardt said he believes changes in Medicare will allow people currently uninsured to benefit from the same market leverage as those with coverage. The changes will bring "parity" and "fairness" in prescription prices, he claimed.

Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America, said his organization supports "expanding drug coverage through an expanded Medicare, using the existing health plans."

He said the reason for the disparity in prices are health plans that "buy in tremendous bulk quantity are demanding and getting price discounts."

If the seniors without coverage were all covered by Medicare they too could have the benefit of a price break, Trewhitt said.