Murder by Spreadsheet

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) slipped out the door of an overcrowded
and overheated markup on a Democratic-backed prescription drug bill
late Thursday night.

While he conferred with an aide, a pharmaceutical lobbyist sidled up
to the ranking Republican. The lobbyist pressed Grassley about the
filibuster intentions of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
and whether fence-sitters in his party, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina, might defect to the Democrats. Grassley said he didn't
know.

The exchange illustrated the pharmaceutical lobby's wavering
confidence in the bill's future. Pharmaceutical lobbyists trained their
focus on the Senate floor this week as Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) introduced the bill Tuesday. The bill, which Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) filed Friday, seeks to tweak
Medicare's prescription drug plan.

Lobbyists raised a few eyebrows when the Senate Finance
Committee scheduled the markup for the bill late Thursday, at 6:40 p.m.
Nonetheless, they packed the cramped committee room. Several lobbyists
paid placeholders, some of whom started waiting before 11 a.m., to
secure prime spots for the standing-room-only markup.

From: www.politico.com

Insurer: Covering drugs during Medicare gap too costly

The gap in Medicare's prescription drug coverage is looking deeper.

For the second time in two years, a major insurer that covered brand-name drugs in the "doughnut hole" has said it's losing money on the drug plan and pulling it off the market at the end of the year.

As a result, seniors who depend on costly medications to treat chronic or serious illnesses are left to wonder, again, where to turn for comprehensive drug coverage next year.

Democrats' Drug Price Bill Blocked in Senate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that would let the U.S. government negotiate prices for Medicare prescription drugs stalled in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday when Republican opponents blocked a vote on the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fell five votes short of the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster and move to a vote on the bill. A filibuster is a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches.

Democrats said they were not giving up on the bill and would try again.