Posted 3/28/01
Over 1,000 seniors expected at affordable drug support rally April 4
More than 1,000 seniors from across Minnesota are expected in St. Paul for a support rally on Wednesday, April 4. The rally is part of a statewide effort by members of the Minnesota Senior Federation to call attention to the high cost of prescription drugs. After months of statewide meetings and strategy sessions, the Senior Federation has formulated a plan that includes legislation to be introduced during this yearís session. The bill would effectively reduce the cost of prescription drugs by approximately 15-25 percent to almost every possible consumer without drug coverage in the state of Minnesota. It would accomplish this by ensuring that drug companies provide rebates and sell at the same prices they currently use when they sell to the Federal Medicaid system. This plan would provide immediate price relief to people with no prescription drug coverage and is not dependent on tax dollars. It also does not reduce local pharmacies retail profits, because the drug companies supply the discounts.
Known as the ìFair Drug Pricing Act,î there are now two identical bills in the Minnesota House and Senate. In the House, the bill number is HF #944. The Senate version is SF #765. A Senate committee passed their version of the bill by a 6-3 margin on March 26 and sent it on to a Senate Finance Committee for review. It likely will come up for a vote this session. The Senior Federation is pushing to get HF #944 into a committee for a hearing before an April 12 deadline in the Minnesota House so that it also could come up for a vote this session.
The prescription drug issue is a very hot topic, not only in Minnesota, but also across the country. Twenty-two other states, including Maine, Vermont, Indiana and Massachusetts, have either passed, or are in the process of passing similar legislation, and a number of others have started action to solve the problem now, and not wait for federal action.
Industry statistics show that the cost of the five most often prescribed drugs for seniors have increased in cost at over three times the rate of inflation during the past five years. The Minnesota Senior Federation is focused on easing the burden of already exorbitant drug costs faced by seniors, by attempting to level the playing field through legislative action.
The Senior Federation has conducted hundreds of informational prescription drug workshops throughout Minnesota over the past three years, and has more presentations scheduled for the near future.
For more information about a workshop near you, call your regional Federation office (320) 679-4700. If you want to be part of the state rally on April 4th, the Seven County Region will have a bus going to St. Paul and making stops in Sandstone, Hinckley, Mora, Pine City, Rush City, North Branch and Cambridge. There is no cost and lunch will be provided, but space is limited, so please call to reserve a seat on the bus.
The Minnesota Senior Federation was founded in 1975 as a non-profit organization to advance the concerns of senior citizens. The Seven County Region based in Mora, is one of twelve similar regions that make up the Minnesota Senior Federation, with current membership in excess of 25,000 statewide.