Democratic lawmaker proposes Maine-like prescription plan

Friday July 18, 2003

DENVER (AP) Uninsured Coloradans could gain some protection from high medication costs if the state negotiated lower prices on their behalf, a Democratic lawmaker says.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said he plans to try again next year on legislation to create a program similar to one in Maine, which gives uninsured residents a discount on retail pharmaceutical prices.
``We don't want to wait for the federal government,'' Pommer said.
He estimated that 100,000 state residents, many of them seniors, lack prescription drug coverage.
A national survey by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group reported that uninsured Americans pay an average of 72 percent more than the federal government does for 10 common prescription drugs. Uninsured Coloradans pay an average of 64 percent more for the medications, the report said.
The federal government can negotiate lower prices for its employees, veterans and retirees, but uninsured Americans have no one to negotiate on their behalf, said Rex Wilmouth of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.
``They are at the whim of the pharmaceutical industry,'' he said.
Martha Everett, 54, of Denver, said her eight prescription medicines cost $300 per month before she got help from the state Indigent Care Program. She sometimes could not afford to refill her prescriptions, she said.
``It wasn't right for me to go without medication,'' said Everett, a part-time employee of a Denver nonprofit agency.
Pommer proposed that the state negotiate for prescription-drug discounts for underinsured or uninsured Coloradans whose income is at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. A similar measure he introduced this year was killed in committee.