Source: Retail pricing from Eckerd Drug; Government pricing from Department of Veterans Affairs.

As we all know, seniors are the largest users of prescription drugs in America. Seniors are on Medicare, and significant numbers of them must pay full price for prescription drugs. And they pay a very high price, often forcing a choice between food and medicine.

Rep. Foley passed a prescription drug bill recently that would subsidize the pharmaceutical and insurance industries instead of providing a Medicare prescription drug benefit for all seniors. It may sound nice on the outside, but on the inside, it's empty.

His plan not only has no guarantee of affordable prescription drug coverage for all seniors, it represents the first step towards privatizing Medicare and forcing seniors to deal with private insurance companies instead of having the choice of getting their prescriptions through Medicare. Foley's measure is a boon to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, which have, coincidentally, poured many thousands of dollars into his campaign coffers. Foley's GOP leadership refused to even consider the Democratic plan to provide affordable, voluntary, and reliable Medicare prescription coverage for all seniors.

Foley seems once again to have represented the interests of his high-dollar contributors instead of his low-dollar constituents. By opposing a desperately needed Medicare prescription drug benefit, he has shown where his true priorities lie. He is dedicated to boosting profits for the HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies that bankroll him and is doing so by denying patients the health care coverage they need and deserve. Remember, this generation of retirees is the generation that fought World War II and thus preserved the freedoms that we now enjoy. For their sacrifices at home and abroad we owe them a big, big debt. Why can't we lower the price of their prescription drugs?

The problem in America is that we have lots of insurance companies with policies sometimes covering an area as small as one county. These companies just don't have the purchasing power to negotiate the kind of discounts that large volume customers can negotiate. They also cannot deliver the drugs. Now these are just some of the examples of what you can buy a drug for when someone as big and as good as the Department of Defense or Veterans Administration negotiate a sharp price. For all those who say that government cannot do anything as well as the private sector, please show me a private insurance company that has as good a price. And if you cannot, then please explain why we want to subsidize insurance companies that are not as sharp negotiators as our government employees are.

For those who are opposed to "federalism", why not just create a program operated at the state level where the state negotiates the price for all Medicare recipients? The volume of the state of Florida should enable us to get a good discount. I am sure Bill Nelson would get us all a good price. Unfortunately for the Insurance companies, they make a percentage of the cost, and if costs are cut in half, their income is also cut in half, and if that happens, their campaign contributions might also suffer. And we all know what the mother's milk of politics is.