With Congress debating ways to give Medicare recipients a break, many Americans will be surprised to learn they're being double billed for drugs they need. Americans already pay a premium for prescription drugs, but for years now, they've been paying for some drugs twice. The global drug industry, operating through a group that can legally conceal the source of its money and the targets of its spending, has accelerated its lobbying against the administration's drug proposal, which it contends will lead to price controls and throttle pharmaceutical research. The stepped-up campaign coincides with a vote in the House as early as Wednesday on competing Republican and Democratic Medicare drug proposals. Senator Orrin Hatch Author of Proposal that Meant Millions for Leading Pharmaceutical Company Senator Anonymous is anonymous no more.
Politicians thrive on attention.
But when a proposal that would have meant millions for a leading pharmaceutical company surfaced on Capitol Hill, no one wanted to claim credit for it. In fact, copies of the controversial legislation were circulated around the Senate without any member s name attached to it. The only conceivable motivation is that they would find it embarrassing to be publicly recognized. Some believe consumers may be as much to blame as the industry. The fact is, the price of existing drugs isn't shooting up.