Pawlenty plan would cut drug costs for uninsured

02/23/2006

Warren Wolfe,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 22, 2006 – 9:26 PM

Two weeks after House DFLers offered a plan to harness state bargaining power to drive down prescription drug prices for uninsured Minnesotans, Gov. Tim Pawlenty unveiled his own proposal Wednesday.

The governor’s plan would cut costs by 10 to 50 percent for about 13,000 lower-income Minnesotans, far fewer than the DFLers’ goal of helping several hundred thousand people, with no income limit.

The difference, Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno said Wednesday, “is that this one would work.”

Under the Pawlenty plan, the state would negotiate rebates on already-discounted prices the state now pays to drugmakers for medicines that help about 200,000 beneficiaries in the Medicaid program for the poor.

Those lower prices—a savings of perhaps 50 percent for generic drugs and 15 or 20 percent for brand-name drugs—would be offered to enrollees in the new program.

“By using the state’s bulk purchasing power, we can provide discounts on prescriptions to thousands of uninsured, low-income Minnesotans,” Pawlenty said.

Eligible would be about 26,000 Minnesotans with no drug insurance and incomes up to three times the poverty level. About 13,000 people likely would enroll and receive ID cards they could use at local pharmacies, Goodno said.

The program would not apply to older and disabled people who already are eligible for a new drug benefit under Medicare Part D.

Restrict, or open to all?

Pawlenty questioned whether the DFL plan would be legal if it were open to all Minnesotans, as proposed by Rep. Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm.

Sertich said Wednesday he welcomes the governor’s proposal. “We can work with him to get this thing exactly right—but hopefully for Minnesotans of any age, income or whether they have insurance.”

Either plan would require legislative approval and cost $2 million over the three years.

Pawlenty’s plan drew support from Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, for offering “the best price available ... a better price than you get in Canada.” She heads the Health and Human Services Budget Division in the DFL-controlled Senate, which approved a similar plan last year.

But a Republican on Berglin’s committee, Sen. Brian LeClair of Woodbury, opposes the plan because it is open to people above the poverty level. “The federal and state government should be taking good care of those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder, and let the private marketplace adapt to the needs of those higher up,” he said.

Help with Medicare Part D

The governor also said he will ask the Legislature for $4.5 million to help the Minnesota Linkage Line find and enroll more Medicare recipients in the Part D drug benefit.

The Linkage Line has been overwhelmed by callers struggling with the rollout of the drug benefit, which began Jan. 1. Pawlenty said the benefit’s “unnecessary complexity” has made enrollment difficult.

Medicare officials said Wednesday that an additional 1.6 million of Medicare’s 43 million beneficiaries enrolled in Part D between Jan. 13 and Feb. 11, including 29,148 Minnesotans.

Among Minnesota’s 711,500 beneficiaries, 31 percent have enrolled in a plan and 14 percent already had retiree coverage. That leaves more than 391,000, or 55 percent, of Minnesota beneficiaries with no drug coverage—far higher than 41 percent nationally.

The Minnesota Linkage Line—1-800-333-2433—operates 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays.