Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Swallowing prescription drug plans

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, June 22, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

Ruthe Deskin is assistant to the publisher. Her column appears Thursdays. Reach her at deskin@lasvegassun.com.

What is one of the hottest issues in this year's election campaign? If you answered that it's the high cost of prescription drugs, you would be mighty close.

On both state and national levels, this issue is sure to be bandied back and forth as candidates court voters.

Already our congressional candidates have become embroiled in verbal exchanges regarding the benefits or drawbacks of plans they support. Voters will have a difficult task separating rhetoric from reality in this most sensitive area.

As a senior who spends over $100 a month on prescription drugs, I can understand the concern. Although I am fortunate enough to have insurance coverage, each prescription calls for a $20 fee for a refill. Without insurance that cost would triple and quadruple.

There are millions of American citizens who face the daily dilemma of having to find money to pay for life-saving drugs. They are not only senior citizens, but young families as well.

We have heard the stories of many who travel to Canada and Mexico, where medicines are far less expensive. Even here the cost of the travel must be considered.

U.S. Senate hopeful Ed Bernstein has announced he will take a bus load of seniors to Mexico to pick up prescriptions. I don't know what the trip will prove that hasn't been made perfectly clear before -- prescription drug costs in the U.S.A. are much more expensive than in Mexico.

As a political ploy the Tijuana bus trip might have some effect on voters in Nevada as it did in Montana when Brian Schweitzer took bus loads of Montanans to Mexico for the same purpose. Making the high cost of prescription drugs a priority in his campaign, Schweitzer was able to defeat primary opponents and move into the November general election in his state.

The difficulty for voters considering this issue will be to determine whose solution is most workable.

Meanwhile an incongruity exists in the field of prescription drugs as more companies are taking to the TV screen to advertise their wares. "Ask you doctor about ..." is almost as familiar as "Is that your final answer?"

Never in my recollection have there been so many prescription drugs advertised on television. And who pays for those elaborate ads? The consumer, of course.

The problem will get worse before it gets better, and my advice is to examine very carefully the different drug price solution packages being touted by politicians -- if you can understand any of them.

The entire issue is too sensitive and important to our well-being to become a political football to be booted about during election campaigns and then forgotten. Too many lives depend on it.

Meanwhile federal and state authorities are warning consumers that hundreds of "rogue" websites are dealing in prescription drugs illegally. Consumers are advised to do business only with Internet pharmacy sites with familiar names recognized as reputable.

A detailed story of how the "rogue" websites operate can be found in the June issue of the AARP Bulletin.

A good source for further information is "Buying Medical Products Online" at www.fda.gov.