Stop-gap drug plan proposed

BOISE – Legislation aimed at starting a discount prescription drug program for low-income Idahoans failed to get off the ground this year, but proponents say an alternate measure that informs people about private cost-saving programs is a step in the right direction.

“Whatever can be done to identify sources of medication for people who need them is always a good thing,” said Joseph Gallegos Jr., the AARP’s associate state director for advocacy.

State Sen. Dick Compton, sponsor of the alternate resolution, calls his legislation a stop-gap measure, but he and others contend it’s a positive step on an issue that plagues thousands of Idaho residents.

“If we don’t do something, people on fixed incomes are going to have to start choosing between paying their rent or getting their prescriptions,” said Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene. “No one wants that to happen.”

Gallegos estimates there are roughly 250,000 Idahoans without health insurance, and nearly 80 percent of those people are working.

In fact, a recent AARP poll shows that almost a third of Idahoans surveyed spend at least $100 per month out of their own pockets on prescription medication. And nearly 90 percent feel it’s important the state implement a prescription drug discount program.

But lawmakers shot down a bill brought by the AARP designed to do just that. The organization’s program, called Affordable Rx Idaho, would have offered discounts from 15 percent to 60 percent on prescriptions to people of any age who live within 250 percent of the poverty level. Only people with health insurance that offers prescription coverage wouldn’t have been able to participate.

Members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, of which Compton is chairman, said the timing was wrong. The $475,000 in state funds needed to launch it would have been tough to come by, Compton said, and the department of Health and Welfare would have needed a new computer system to run the program.

“This just isn’t the year for funding,” Compton said.

Last week the Senate unanimously passed the Republican senator’s resolution, SCR 118, that encourages the state Health and Welfare Department to provide information to the public on private prescription drug programs – which most people have no idea are available, backers say.

“There are a great deal of private programs out there,” Compton said. “Many people don’t know about them because the information on them isn’t that easy to access.”

The pharmaceutical companies haven’t devoted the resources to let the public know about the special programs, Gallegos said, as they’ve done for their big-name medications.

“Pharmaceutical companies have a huge responsibility for publicizing their programs,” Gallegos said. “But tell me who knows about them? … My God, they have the money.”

Although the AARP’s bill has been killed, Gallegos said he’s pleased a discussion has begun on finding ways to lower drug costs for low-income people. Part of the problem, he said, is that there’s been a shroud of secrecy over how prescription drugs are priced and how pharmacists are reimbursed.

“There needs to be some transparency brought to the issue,” Gallegos said. “Everyone agrees there’s a pressing need for change.”