Lawmakers
push Lingle
on Rx planLegislators and the AARP want
funds for bulk drug purchasing
after a high court ruling
State legislators and AARP officials are urging Gov. Linda Lingle to release $200,000 for the state-approved bulk drug-purchasing program, after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction on a Maine program that was the model for Hawaii's.
Lingle, however, said such action is premature because the high court's ruling was not definitive. Moreover, she said, the state is moving forward with a task force to study ways to lower prescription drug costs.
"We don't want to set up a program that's going to be challenged as soon as it gets up and running," Lingle said yesterday.
"The court was very clear that they are not ruling on the substance of the program, but on one aspect of what was before the court. And what was before the court was whether or not the lower court had overstepped its jurisdiction," she said.
Hawaii and Maine are the only two states that created programs aimed at using bulk purchasing to get cheaper prescription drugs for residents not covered by drug plans or who have limited drug plans.
In a 6-3 ruling yesterday, the Supreme Court gave qualified approval to the Maine plan, which was enacted in 2000. Hawaii created a similar program in 2002 but delayed the start date until July 1, 2004, while it and 28 other states waited for the Maine case to be decided.
A majority of justices agreed that the U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, was premature when it granted an injunction sought by the pharmaceutical industry shortly after the Maine law was created. The District Court ruled the program violated the federal interstate commerce clause as well as federal Medicaid laws, but the high court overturned the injunction because it said the lower court did not have data on what impact the Maine program would have on consumers.
Hawaii lawmakers set aside $200,000 last year for a consultant to work with the state Department of Human Services to implement the program, but the governor has not released the funds since she took office last December.
Greg Marchildon, AARP Hawaii executive director, said the court's ruling is a victory for consumers, especially the 220,000 people in the islands who could benefit from the "Hawaii Rx" program by realizing up to 40 percent savings on certain drugs.
Marchildon urged Lingle not to make it a partisan issue and to allow the state program to go forward.
"It's a very easy choice she has to make," he said. "You're either on the side of the drug companies, or you're on the side of the people now that the court has spoken."
State Rep. Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City), who co-authored the Hawaii Rx bill with Sen. Ron Menor (D, Mililani), said the governor's proposed prescription drug program is a start but will help very few people and only last two years. Something permanent is needed, he said.
"It should be a bipartisan effort because those who don't have drug insurance, I assure, you, are both Democrats, Republicans and every other political stripe," Takumi said.
He added that if big drug companies are not willing to give a sufficient amount of their drug costs back to Hawaii as rebates, then the state can require the pharmaceutical manufacturers to submit a case-by-case approval of prescriptions to DHS before the pharmacies will dispense them.
State of Hawaii