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Monday, September 22, 2003
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Congressional leaders might act to spur
deadline on Medicare bill negotiations
By David Espo
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON —Talks to find a com
promise on a Medicare prescription drug bill
are so plagued by policy differences and
personality clashes that Republican leaders
are considering setting deadlines to prod
bargainers toward a deal this fall.
More than two months of formal talks
have yielded general agreement on items
such as establishing an interim drug dis
count card program for Medicare clients.
Even in some of these areas, however, criti
cal details remain unresolved; for example,
whether to make physician participation in a
new electronic prescription program volun
tary' or mandatory.
Also, bargainers have yet to delve into
more fundamental differences between
House and Senate versions of the bill.
Both are designed to provide a prescrip
tion drug benefit while injecting competi
tion into the government’s health care
program for older Americans.
“We’re considering setting a dead
line,” said Rep. Roy Blunt. R-Montana,
third-ranking member of the House
GOP leadership.
Asked about the possibility. Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist said that deci
sion has not yet been made. At the same
time, the Tennessee Republican added, “I
could see certain benchmarks being set”
to hasten compromise.
Frist said he remains committed to pas
sage this year of a “comprehensive bill, not
scaled-back,” to cost $400 billion over a
decade. House Speaker Dennis Hasten, R-
tll., has told fellow Republicans he holds the
same view.
At the White House, spokesman Scott
McClellan said Friday that President George
W. Bush, too, wants a comprehensive bill
this year.
Given the slow pace of the talks on a
compromise bill, and the complaints that
some lawmakers reported hearing over the
summer that the legislation is not gener
ous enough, possible alternatives are
being floated.
Several cost-conscious conservatives
wrote Hasten last week that if the broad
compromise efforts falter, “we would sup-
n
/ V/ rather have a good bill,
hut no bill is better than a
bad hill.
— Max Baucus
Montana Senator
port a basic drug subsidy for low-income
seniors and a catastrophic coverage for mid
dle-income seniors” rather than a “univer
sal. unlimited” benefit for all.
While formal negotiations plod. Frist
and several other top GOP senators meet
regularly with Democratic Sens. Max
Baucus of Montana and John Breaux of
Louisiana. Thus far, they have focused on
possible ground rules for a new era of
competition between managed care plans
and traditional Medicare.
Several sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said options under discussion
included using a blend of competitive bid
ding and a formula pegged to traditional
Medicare to set the level of government
payments for companies that establish man
aged care plans.
The objective, these sources said, is to set
a payment level high enough to encourage
companies to offer managed care coverage,
yet low enough to begin restraining the
growth in Medicare’s cost.
If the policy differences have yet to be fully
discussed, the political gulf on Medicare has
long been plain. In contrast to the Senate bill,
which passed on a bipartisan vote in June,
House Republicans tailored their bill to con
servative specifications.
Asked recently to name the biggest
hurdles blocking compromise on a final
Medicare bill. Rep. John Dingell, D-
Mich., responded: “Republicans, pharma
ceutical houses and insurers.”
The senior Democrat in Congress and
longtime supporter of Medicare, Dingell
has never been viewed as a likely support
er of any GOP-engineered compromise.
But a day after he spoke, a group of
GOP House conservatives whose votes
were critical to passing the legislation in
June sent Hasten a series of conditions for
their continued support.
They included a requirement that tra
ditional Medicare compete directly with
new managed care plans beginning in
2010, which many Democrats say is a
deal-breaker for them.
Some Republican aides have spoken
up in recent weeks about trying to fash
ion a final bill that would pass the House
with little Democratic help, then dare
Democrats to filibuster it in the Senate.
On the other hand, Frist, Grassley and
other Senate Republicans have long
been on record saying they want a bipar
tisan bill. At the last public bargaining
session, Baucus warned the GOP not to
exclude his party from the talks.
“I’d rather have a good bill,” said
Baucus, “But no bill is better than a bad
bill.”
New impotency drug seizes half of new prescriptions
By Theresa Agovino
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
eel Signs
Uta!
ca.famu.edu
NEW YORK — A new market entrant, Levitra, has captured half
the new prescriptions written for impotency since its launch earlier
this month, thanks in part to a marketing blitz with a more “racy”
take on sexual performance.
Analysts said Levitra’s early success doesn’t necessarily portend
a major threat to Viagra’s market dominance. But it signals a shift in
some of the marketing of both drugs as capable of improving peo
ple’s lifestyle, and not just correcting a sobering medical condition.
“The ads have much more of a consumer approach,” said Winton
Gibbons, an analyst for William Blair & Co. “The drugs are being
treated like other consumer products in ads.”
Pfizer Inc., which makes Viagra, and GlaxoSmithKline and
Bayer Corp., which are co-marketing Levitra, insist the ads are
designed to encourage men with erectile dysfunction to see a doc
tor, and not to promote recreational use. Experts say about 30 mil
lion men over 40 have erectile dysfunction.
But the ads can tell a different story. The commercial for Levitra
features a sexy model trying to throw a football through a tire.
Initially, he fails but then he succeeds, and is joined by a very attrac
tive woman. The voice over says, “Sometimes you need a little help
staying in the game. When it gets in the zone, it’s good.”
Gibbons labeled the ad “racy.” Hemant Shah, an independent
analyst in Warren, N.J., called it “aggressive.”
Bayer spokeswoman Lara Crissey said the text was designed to
appeal to men, and tie into Levitra’s sponsorship of the National
Football League.
“We don’t feel we are making light of the condition. We are talk
ing to men in a language they understand,” Crissey said. “The ad
has nothing to do with recreational use.”
Levitra hit the market the first week of September. According to
the research firm, ImpactRx, half the prescriptions for men who had
never taken an impotency drug before were written for Levitra.
But analysts said much can happen between the doctor’s office
and the drug store that prevents prescriptions from turning into
sales. The man may decide not to fill the prescription or his health
plan may pay only for Viagra. Also, he might try the drug and never
use it again.
Shah said it isn’t unusual for men to want to try a new product
when it comes on the market. That’s what happened when Viagra
arrived five years ago. Back then Viagra’s promotion featured for
mer presidential candidate Bob Dole explaining erectile dysfunction
as a serious medical condition.
NEWS IN BRIEF
European leaders
agree on Iraq role
BERLIN (AP) — Germany,
France and Britain sought to
project a new European con
sensus Saturday before next
week’s U.N. General Assembly
meeting on Iraq’s future, agree-
broadly on a significant role
for the United Nations and a
transfer of power to Iraqis. But
they were still divided on how
quickly that should happen.
There was no sign of move
ment from French President
Jacques Chirac, who insisted
again that power should be
transferred to the Iraqis within
months, despite U.S. insis
tence, shared by British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, that it’s too
early to establish a timetable.
German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder sought to act as
intermediary at the hastily
called summit, the first to bring
together the leaders of anti-war
France and Germany with
Blair, the United States’ closest
; since Europe split over the
Iraq war.
Man arrested
for rapes in Miami
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(AP) — A man was
arrested in a string of rapes in
this city’s Little Havana neigh
borhood, police chief John
Timoney said Saturday.
Reynaldo Elias Rapalo, 32, a
Honduran citizen whose visa
had expired, was arrested
Friday night and his DNA sam
ple matched forensic evidence
taken from the rape scenes,
Timoney said. His fingerprints
also matched and an eyewit
ness identified him as the
rapist, he said.
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Texas A&M University
Pre-Law Society
We are hosting Rey Ramos, the
Director of Admissions for
The University of Texas School of Law,
on Tuesday, September 23.
Please join us at 7 p.m. in Koldus HO
to hear Mr. Ramos discuss law school,
followed by a question and
answer session with the director.
The Pre-Law Society hopes
to see you on Tuesday!