New Medicare Prescription Drug Scandal: The Republican Special Interest Agenda Strikes Again

The American people are again having to pay for the Bush White House and Republican Congress's special interest agenda. According to the New York Times, drug companies will reap "$2 billion or more this year" as "a result of the transfer of millions of low-income people into the new Medicare Part D drug program that went into effect in January." Bush Republicans in Congress allowed lobbyists and special interests to write the Medicare prescription drug law, which banned the federal government from negotiating drug prices. As a result, "the prices paid by insurers, and eventually the taxpayer, for the medications given to those transferred are likely to be higher than what was paid under the federal-state Medicaid programs for the poor." The Times also noted that, analysts expect the change "to generate hundreds of millions of additional dollars this year for the drug companies, which have long chafed under the pricing restraints of the state programs." [New York Times, 7/18/06]

"This is another clear example of the 'Do-Nothing' Republican Congress putting special interests ahead of what's good for the American people. The actual cost of their abuse of power comes with a price tag of more than $2 billion," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "It is no wonder President Bush and the Republican Congress are losing the confidence of the American people, who can see time and again that the Republican agenda puts the special interests ahead of what's good for them. In November, voters will have a choice: Do you want more of the same Republican 'Do-Nothing' special interet agenda or do you want a change in policies that puts the American people first? Democrats will fix the prescription drug program by putting people ahead of drug companies and HMOs, eliminating wasteful subsidies, negotiating lower drug prices and ensuring the program works for all seniors."

A Windfall For Special Interests: Drug Companies Will Pocket $139 Billion in Profits From Bush's Medicare Bill. As a result of Bush's Medicare bill, the drug industry will receive an additional $139.2 billion in profits over eight years. That will amount to 61 percent of the spending in the bill for prescription drugs. [Alan Sager, Boston University School of Public Health, 4/12/04]

Cost Overruns: Bush Appointee Thomas Scully Threatened To Fire Medicare's Actuary If He Released The True Cost of Bush's Medicare Plan To Congress. The Bush Administration relied upon the Medicare drug benefit's $400 billion price tag to win over skeptical conservatives in Congress. Within weeks of the bill's passage, the White House admitted they had underestimated the cost by $135 billion (35 percent). Medicare's Chief Actuary Richard Foster was threatened with his job in June 2003 if he told Congress the true cost. "We can't let that out," Foster recalls Medicare Administrator Thomas Scully telling him. [Boston Globe, 1/30/04; LA Times, 1/31/04; New York Times, 3/14/04; Wall Street Journal, 3/15/04]

• Scully Was Searching For Jobs While Crafting The Bill. Scully was "a former health-industry lobbyist deeply involved in the administration's campaign to pass the drug benefit." He "left the administration and in January took a job with Alston & Bird, an Atlanta-based law firm that represents numerous hospitals and health insurers. He was exploring jobs in the private sector while he was pushing for passage of the prescription drug bill, thanks to a waiver from Thompson that allowed him to conduct job interviews while he was still a federal employee." [Knight-Ridder, 3/12/04]

Bill Sponsor Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) Earns Millions After Taking Job As Head Of Drug Industry Trade Association. "Retiring Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who stepped down earlier this year as chairman of the House committee that regulates the pharmaceutical industry, will become the new president and CEO of the drug industry's top lobbying group. Tauzin will begin work Jan. 3 heading the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a powerful trade group that marshaled an army of lobbyists last year to successfully support a bill overhauling Medicare and establishing the first prescription drug benefit for seniors. Tauzin was a co-sponsor, and President Bush signed the bill into law a year ago... Tauzin gets a pay package reportedly worth at least $2 million a year, making him one of the highest-paid lobbyists in Washington." [USA Today, 12/15/04]

GOP Held Open The Medicare Vote For Three Hours. Republicans held the debate over the Medicare prescription drug plan open for three hours. The "vote was ended by GOP leaders at 6 a.m., after a 218 to 216 deficit flipped to a 220 to 215 victory." [CNN.com, 11/25/03]

• House GOP Leaders Offered Bribes to Rep. Nick Smith on the House Floor To Support Bush. In statements shortly after the final House vote, Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) stated that GOP House leadership members had offered to funnel $100,000 in donations to his son's Congressional campaign in exchange for his support of the legislation. [Slate, 1/23/04, 8/4/04; USA Today, 12/5/03; The Hill, 3/11/04; AP, 3/18/04]
  
  
• House Ethics Committee Rebuked DeLay For Trying To Bribe Smith. "The House ethics committee admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) last night for offering a political favor to a Michigan lawmaker in exchange for the member's vote on last year's hard-fought Medicare prescription drug bill. After a six-month investigation, the committee concluded that DeLay had told Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) he would endorse the congressional bid of Smith's son if the congressman gave GOP leaders a much-needed vote in a contentious pre-dawn roll call on Nov. 22. 'This conduct could support a finding that . . . DeLay violated House rules,' the committee said in its 62-page report.'" [Washington Post, 10/1/04]