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July 19, 2001 at 08:00 PM
By
Washington
President Bushs proposal to provide Medicare beneficiaries with a discount prescription drug plan is drawing mild praise from health insurance representatives, who say that more needs to be done.
Under the Bush plan, private companies that manage large prescription drug benefit programs would, under the auspices of Medicare, negotiate discount prices with drug manufacturers.
These discount prices would then be passed on to beneficiaries who subscribe to a companys discount drug program.
A company could charge a sign-up fee of up to $25.
Bush says that the plan is an interim solution to the problem of high prescription drug costs, but that he still plans to advance a major overhaul of the Medicare program.
