Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces and a letter to the editor addressing the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Summaries appear below.

Opinion Pieces

• Ken Johnson, Charleston Daily Mail: Legislation that would allow the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies "could lead to government approving only a narrow list of medicines for the Medicare program or limiting patients' access to medicines in other ways," Ken Johnson, senior vice president of communications and public affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, writes in a Daily Mail opinion piece. Johnson writes, "The Medicare prescription drug benefit is working, and Congress needs to let it be" (Johnson, Charleston Daily Mail, 2/7).
  


• Sarah Berk, Miami Herald: "Medicare Part D is a success, yet for its own political gain the new Democratic leadership in Congress seems intent on risking seniors' access to prescription drugs and expanded medical benefits" by promising to remove restrictions on government drug price negotiations, Berk, executive director of Health Care America, writes in a Herald opinion piece. Supporters of these efforts "contend their bill prohibits the government from limiting drug choices ... but there are only two ways the government can achieve the lower prices they envision: dictate exact prices or limit choices," Berk writes (Berk, Miami Herald, 2/2).
  


• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Wall Street Journal: The Medicare drug benefit "has exceeded every expectation," because "[n]ot only is the program more popular than we imagined, it is also more flexible and less expensive," Senate Minority Leader McConnell writes in a Journal opinion piece. "Nevertheless, some in Congress want to make over Part D to resemble the drug benefit program of the Veterans Administration," which excludes some innovative treatments, does not cover new drugs until three years after they enter the market and limits the facilities where beneficiaries can fill prescriptions, McConnell writes (McConnell, Wall Street Journal, 2/8).
  


• Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Washington Times: "I don't want sick Americans made to rely on bureaucrats and mail order houses" like they would if a new health care program emulated that of the VA, Barton writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Barton, "Making Medicare like the VA means your doctor will work for the federal government, your hospital will be run by federal appointees, prescriptions are from mail order, not the corner drug store, and 3,000 medicines currently covered won't be on the government list at all" (Barton, Washington Times, 2/4).
  

Letter to the Editor

• Mark Merritt, Washington Times: Policymakers "from both sides of the aisle" in Congress are seeking "fiscally responsible and practical solutions about how best to make prescription drugs safer, more effective and more affordable," but the independent pharmacist lobby "continues to focus on an agenda that would mandate federal payment cycles and minimum generic dispensing fees, both of which would cost seniors and the Medicare program $55 billion in higher drug costs over the next 10 years," Mark Merritt, president of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, writes in a Times letter to the editor (Merritt, Washington Times, 2/8).