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CNN Live At Daybreak

Critics Plague Bush Prescription Discount Plan

Aired July 13, 2001 - 08:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush heads for Johns Hopkins today. Not because he is sick or anything like that, but because he just wants to talk to health care workers about Medicare. The president has rolled out a program he says will make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.

But as our Valerie Morris reports, it's all in the cards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush plans to help seniors pay for prescription drugs by expanding private discount plans. These plans allow pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to buy medicine in bulk and sell it to their members at a discount. Seniors and consumer groups say it's a necessary, but insufficient, first step.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's commendable that Bush is trying to do something, but it's merely a Band-Aid. If you take an average person that cannot afford the terribly high cost of prescriptions, where they have to decide between a drug or buying milk, what is 10 percent going to do for them -- 10 percent off? I think it's just a joke.

MORRIS: Starting next year, PBMs, such as Merck-Medco, which are normally hired by companies to help manage prescription drug costs, will sell discount cards directly to Medicare beneficiaries for a one- time fee of no more than $25. Those discount cards could then be used to purchase drugs at lower prices at more than 40,000 participating pharmacies and mail-order services.

The average senior pays about $1,700 a year for prescription drugs. The government says discount cards could save them 10 percent to 25 percent. While critics say that wouldn't amount to much, for cash-strapped seniors, it could make a difference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything that will work to help lower the cost of prescription drugs to seniors would be a blessing.

MORRIS: But consumer groups say these discounts can only go so far.

TRUDY LIEBERMAN, CONSUMERS UNION: A prescription drug card really does not get at the heart of the problem, and that is the rising cost of prescription drugs. And these prices have been going up 14 to 19 percent a year.

MORRIS: Expanding the discount card program does not require congressional approval and could be implemented as early as November 1.

That's your money -- Valerie Morris, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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