NRLC OPPOSES RATIONING, PRICE CONTROLS, FOR LIFESAVING DRUGS.(National Right to Life Committee)

Government-imposed drug price controls in Medicare would compel rationing and gravely endanger development of lifesaving drugs. Unfortunately, pressure is now building in Congress to add drug price controls in the name of allowing government "negotiation" of drug prices.

The National Right to Life Committee announced May 27 its opposition to bills introduced in Congress to repeal the Medicare provision that prevents the federal government from interfering in drug price negotiations.

See Q &A on page 10-11.

Since its inception, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has been committed to protecting the right to life from conception until natural death, which means the organization has fought just as strongly against infanticide and euthanasia as it has against abortion. In particular, NRLC has strongly opposed involuntary denial of lifesaving medical treatment through rationing.

In 1994 NRLC opposed the Clinton Health Care Plan's proposed insurance premium price controls because they would have forced rationing. In 1995-2003, during the congressional debate over Medicare restructuring, NRLC successfully fought for the ability of older Americans to add their own money, if they choose, to government payments in order to obtain insurance plans that are less likely to ration care. Now, NRLC is opposing legislative changes in Medicare that would effectively impose rationing of lifesaving drugs through drug price controls.

In 1997, at the urging of NRLC and other groups, Congress created an escape valve - - one alternative to Medicare rationing that neither breaks the budget nor requires new taxes.

That alternative permits those eligible for Medicare voluntarily to supplement government payments for health insurance premiums with their own funds, if they wish, in order to obtain unrationed, unmanaged, private fee-for-service insurance. This is comparable to the way in which most retirees supplement government Social Security payments for living expenses with their own funds.