The state House on Tuesday rejected a key Democratic measure to lower the cost of prescription drugs for some uninsured Coloradans.
The 35-30 defeat of House Bill 1100 raises doubts about whether Democrats will be able to deliver on their promise to provide discounted drugs to the uninsured.
The House did approve a separate measure, Senate Bill 1, that would require Colorado to join a multistate drug-purchasing pool. But many fear that proposal – the last discount drug program still standing – will meet the same fate a similar bill did last year when Republican Gov. Bill Owens vetoed it.
“We’re not giving up on this governor yet,” Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said. “I’m going to try hard to persuade him to sign Senate Bill 1.”
Democrats had planned to send both Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1100 to Owens with the hope that at least one would become law. But the leadership lost support for House Bill 1100 when pharmacies, HMOs and a business coalition joined lobbying forces against it.
Democratic Speaker Pro Tempore Cheri Jahn said she opposed the bill because not all the groups affected were involved in the negotiations.
Besides, she said, the bill offered discounts that are already available in the private market.
“I do not think it’s fair to ask one industry to pay for the bill – pharmacies,” she said.
House Bill 1100 had been touted as a compromise measure by Republicans, Democrats, labor-union leaders and the pharmaceutical industry.
Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose foundation helped craft the bill, last month touted the bill during a speech in Denver as “some of the freshest, most original work on health-care policy that we have seen for quite some time.”
Proponents said the proposal would have allowed about 500,000 uninsured Coloradans earning less than 250 percent of federal poverty levels, or $50,000 for a family of four, and those 60 and older to apply for a “Colorado Cares Rx” card. The card would have entitled the holder to the same prices state employees pay when buying drugs, which are discounted on average about 30 percent.
But pharmacies were upset because they said most of the savings wouldn’t come from drug manufacturers, but from them. That’s because they don’t get generic drugs at a discount but would still have to sell them at a lower rate, they said.
An HMO said the bill would eliminate its ability to negotiate deep discounts with drug makers.
A business group fretted about higher drug costs for employers.
And a consumer group called it “a do-nothing bill.”
When none of the groups were able to amend the proposal to their liking, they joined forces to defeat it one day after it was given preliminary House approval.
“You can get away with rolling one group, but when you have consumers, employers and pharmacies, you can’t do it,” said Travis Berry, a lobbyist for the Colorado Competitive Council, a statewide coalition of employers and chambers of commerce.
Lobbyists for the Colorado AFL-CIO and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, fought hard for the bill. They, along with the Heinz Family Philanthropies, put out a joint statement Tuesday saying the vote put politics ahead of the uninsured.
“Unfortunately, partisanship, election-year politics, and the lobbying of entrenched special interests combined to negatively portray what is fundamentally a good program,” the statement read.
Chris Howes, a lobbyist for the pharmacy chains, said, “If PhRMA had contributed as much to this drug discount program as they spent on lobbyists, the people of Colorado would be a lot better off.”
A PhRMA spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
