The first plan of its kind in the country, Gov. Bob Taft signed a prescription-drug savings plan Tuesday designed to give relief to uninsured and elderly Ohioans who are unable to afford prescription drugs.
It's a significant accomplishment
bill co-sponsor Sen. Robert Hagan, D-Youngstown, said. People are going to see some real discounts. Hagan has been working almost his entire career for prescription-drug price reform.
The plan could be a model for other states to follow, Hagan said.
Taft was eager to sign the bill, spokesman Orest Holubec said.
The plan - expected to begin this summer - would provide benefits between 25 and 40 percent for Ohio residents 60 and older and those 25 percent above the poverty line. Drugs that are purchased most frequently will have the biggest discounts, Hagan said.
Aside from a one-time start-up fee of $5 to $10 million, the state does not pay for the discounts, Rep. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, said.
Stewart said he absolutely supported the bill.
I think we worked out a pretty good compromise Stewart said.
Negotiations for the plan between PhRMA, a lobbying firm for the pharmaceutical industry, and the Ohio Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs took place between July and September, coalition spokesman Dale Butland said. If a plan could not be reached, the coalition was prepared to petition a referendum in an election for state-mandated price control.
The benefits for seniors are in addition to those provided by
the Golden Buckeye card, PhRMA spokeswoman Jenny Camper said.
Hagan said the plan he proposed to the Senate was modeled after a plan Maine voters passed in 2001 that attached a discount plan to Medicaid.
PhRMA did not want Ohio to attach a plan to Medicaid because it results in price control and would limit availability of drugs, Camper said.
Other disagreements in the negotiations included the age limit and income limit for eligibility in the program.
While he is happy with the program, Hagan said he originally wanted a 60 percent discount. He currently is planning to propose a bill, which would empower the state to purchase drugs from Canadian companies. It would be an open defiance to the Food and Drug Administration's
rule that states are not allowed
to buy drugs from foreign companies.
Stewart said there still is room to improve the plan.
By no means does it solve all the problems he said.
Taft will look at other ways to provide prescription-drug relief in the future, Holubec said.
We'll look at it all the time. But the real answer lies in Washington. More needs to be done
he said.
17
Archives
Jeffrey Fitzwater
