Kaiser Conversations on Health with AARP CEO Bill Novelli 3/3/2004
Barbara Jordan Conference Center, Washington, D.C.
This discussion is the second webcast in a new series, Kaiser Conversations on Health. Visit our previous webcast with DATA Co-founder Bono.
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On March, 3, 2004, AARP CEO Bill Novelli spoke with Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Visiting Fellow Jackie Judd, former correspondent with ABC News, about drug costs and the recent Medicare prescription drug legislation.
Novelli heads AARP, the country's largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to addressing the needs and interests of persons 50 and older. He also played a pivotal role in the recent passage of legislation to create a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
Though in the public eye most recently for his work on Medicare, Novelli has also served as president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and executive vice president of the relief agency CARE, and co-founded one of the worldâ??s largest public relations agencies.
On what he’d change about the Medicare drug benefit: "If there were only one change, and we could make it happen, we would close the dreaded donut hole. What we would do is make coverage universal for everybody who is a Medicare beneficiary."
On reimportation of drugs from Canada: "The pharmaceutical industry is not easy to convince. We all know that. I don’t know if they’ll ever come around on importation. The least we can do is get them to not choke off the supply side, and we’re working on that."
On AARP efforts to monitor the industry: "Then we’re going to set up a kind of watchdog operation within AARP, and we’re going to monitor drug prices. And we’re going to publish these for our members and for the general public."
On working with drug companies to address drug costs: "We’re sending a letter in about three days to the industry saying here are the things you need to do to be really responsible about prices...The most important thing is they ought to make a commitment right now not to increase drug prices above inflation. If they make that commitment for brand name drugs; and if they’ll work on some of these other areas with us; and if they’ll help recruit low-income people and make their drug cards available even after people use up the $600 subsidy on the Medicare discount card. There are twenty good things they can do make a difference and be good responsible corporations. These are companies that save lives. We’re not at war with the drug industry, but we are at war with drug prices."
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