US Medicare Rx plan to move forward

A US District Court has decided to allow the Centers for Medicare andMedicaid Services to proceed with plans for a notice-and-comment period on President George W Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Plan for senior citizens.

However, the injunction against the program placed by Judge Paul Friedman of the District Court of the District of Columbia in September, at the request of pharmacy and chain drug store groups (Marketletter September 17), will remain in place, the judge added.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Association of Community Pharmacists, had claimed that neither the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Tom Scully nor Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson had the legislative authority to implement the proposed drug discount plan. The trade groups also said that the proposal was a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act and of the federal Advisory Committee Act, as well as an unlawful delegation of regulatory power to a private consortium.