"WASHINGTON - The new Medicare drug benefit will give drug companies up to $2 billion in extra profits this year because they're no longer required to pay rebates on drugs bought by the government for the elderly poor.
The hefty windfall raises new concerns that the Bush administration won't fully realize its promises of lower drug prices in the troubled new program.
The boost in profits comes from a shift in the drug coverage of 6.4 million poor and elderly people from Medicaid to the new Medicare drug benefit. Unlike Medicaid, which requires drug companies to charge their lowest or "best price" for medications, the Medicare program relies on competition among private drug plans to keep prices low. By eliminating the need to discount drugs for the government, the industry can now pocket the savings.
"The net effect over 10 years is probably closer to $40 billion in extra profit," said Stephen Schondelmeyer, a pharmaceutical economics professor at the University of Minnesota"
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13777954.htmI get tired of reading in the news every day that Bush has handed yet more taxpayer dollars to huge corporations. If Bush wants to give corporations money, he needs to give them his own and NOT ours!!!