Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15768

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Comer B.
PhRMA campaign touts Part D positives
Medical Marketing & Media 2009 Jun 10
http://www.mmm-online.com/PhRMA-campaign-touts-Part-D-positives/article/138323

Full text:

PhRMA launched a national TV ad campaign aimed in part at dissuading congressional Democrats from tampering with the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit to allow the government to negotiate drug prices.

The ad celebrates the successes of Medicare Part D, and asks viewers to call 202-224-3121 and “tell Congress we need quality affordable healthcare coverage for every American.”

“All across America, over 26 million seniors have signed up for Medicare drug coverage, choosing a private plan that fits their needs, and saving an average of $1,200.00 a year on their prescription medicine,” says the ad’s narrator. “And with competition holding down costs, taxpayers are saving billions. The Medicare benefit is working, and seniors are happy.”

According to a PhRMA release, the campaign touts “the importance and success of free-market initiatives such as [Medicare Part D].” The “free-market” elements of Medicare Part D – in particular, a policy provision barring Medicare from negotiating drug prices with manufacturers – have been challenged anew by congressional Democrats.

Two bills introduced in Congress last January, one in the House (H.R.684) and one in Senate (S.330), by Rep. Robert Berry (D-AR) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), respectively, would empower government officials to “negotiate with pharmaceutical manufactures with respect to the purchase price of covered part D drugs.”