Abstract

Coverage for No One

My patient John Elias, with a fixed income from Social Security and a small pension, is a perfect candidate for prescription drug coverage. But Elias doesn't take his medicines to begin with, because he doesn't have the money to buy drugs. The problem is that the uninsured and those caught in the gap have no one doing their negotiating for them, no one who can buy in bulk for them. The new plan will also create a system whereby patients will have to pay top price for drugs they must buy themselves before coverage kicks in again. Joel Eichel, chief pharmacist at Bigelow Pharmacy in New York City, agrees with NYPIRG that cash customers pay the highest prices for their drugs. But the new Medicare plan, rather than using that negotiating power to force more reasonable prices, will force the government as well as the poor and those in the gap to pay retail prices for drugs. The new Medicare bill will bring the drug companies easy access to a group that can't afford to underwrite their fancy corporate schemes. As things stand, more privatization means more profit, not more healthcare. Only bulk bargaining by the government can drive prices down.