US Democrat campaign targets own side

The US think-tank the Institute for America's Future, which considers itself to be opposed to the "centrist" elements of the Democratic Party, has launched a campaign against several Democratic Senators on the issue of federal government negotiations with drugmakers for the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit (Marketletters passim). In a statement, coinciding with the publication of a report which claims $30.0 billion would be saved by Medicare annually by what the drug industry considers to be a price control scheme, the IAF listed six states, all of them with Democratic party Senators, where the group's campaign vehicle, the Change America Now Coalition, "will be asking tough questions."

The IAF report, titled: Waste and inefficiency in the Bush Medicare prescription drug plan, estimates the savings by comparing the prices paid by the Veterans' Administration versus Medicare Part D plans for brand name prescription drugs, then extrapolating across the board. However, the six-page report makes no mention of the VA's use of a formulary to restrict access to drugs or the agency's poor track record at making new therapies available to its members (Marketletters passim).