Originally published February 26 2006
California and other states to sue federal government over failed prescription drug plan
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Attorney General Bill Lockyer has announced that California will sue the federal government for the $150 million the new Medicare prescription drug plan has cost the state, which has offered emergency help to seniors left without their medications because of the drug plan's many flaws.
California will sue the federal government over its new problem-riddled prescription drug plan, which has already cost the state $150 million in emergency prescription help, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.
At least three other states - Kentucky, Missouri and Texas - likely will join the lawsuit against the Medicare funding program that took effect Jan. 1, California legislators were told this week.
"There are a lot of states that are concerned about this provision and are weighing whether to join this legal challenge," Tom Dressler, a spokesman for the attorney general, said Wednesday.
Lockyer said the law is supposed to save California millions of dollars it used to spend on prescription drugs under its Medi-Cal program, but it could instead end up costing Californians more than $750 million over the next three years.
A clause in the legislation requires states to reimburse the federal government for money they will save - something Lockyer will argue is unconstitutional.
"We are going to challenge it to ensure the state does not have to pay the federal government for a program that has more flaws than prescriptions," Lockyer said in a news release.
"When Congress passed this federal drug program, states were promised we would save 10 percent of what we otherwise would have paid to provide prescription drugs to this population," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo has previously said his state would sue over the so-called "clawback," which he estimated will cost Kentucky $88 million in 2006 alone.
That state already had worked with drug companies to cut drug cots, and the federal plan will cost about $20 million more to administer, said Jennifer Hans, an assistant attorney general for Kentucky.
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