Yesterday seniors turned out in Manchester to take control of their health care costs. They hoped on a bus for Canada, where drugs are cheaper, thanks not only to a strong dollar, but more importantly, to government controls.
People from New England joined the Alliance for Retired Americans as part of a multi-state awareness campaign about drug cost. Governor Jeanne Shaheen took advantage of the event, holding a forum, and sending off the handful of New Hampshire residents who headed north.
NHPR's Dan Gorenstein has more.
When Governor Shaheen arrived at the Burns Hi-Rise in Manchester, she met a roomful of seniors and others concerned about prescription drugs costs. She began the forum with a few words, but quickly turned it over to the crowd. Barbara St. George from Derry, outlined the savings she expects when she arrives in Canada.
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:00 I have to take several medications and one at the local drug store for a 30-day supply is $250 dollars. In Canada, it is $97 and that�s $150 dollar savings. Another one I take, it�s 87.83. In Canada, it�s $33.80 cents, one-third. This is just unconscionable.
St. George admits she�s had a lot of health problems lately. She says, without help from her doctor, her monthly cost for drugs would run between 5 and 6 hundred dollars.
1:50 if I had to pay for these prescriptions, I am getting a couple of prescription samples�that really cuts into normal everyday living, your heat, in the winter.
St. George�s is a familiar story. But it�s not just seniors. Karen is one of the younger people who boarded the bus for cheaper drugs in Canada.
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Track 23 Karen
:44 I am on social security disability, and there is no way I can afford prescription drugs I need to take. I don�t have any insurance. And I am not eligible for Medicare for a while. So, I really need to be here. This involves so many people. Not only the elderly, people who have had to retire early.
Joanne Dodge drove to the forum from Dover. She says she used to have a couple of dollar co-pay. And took the payments for granted. She told Governor Shaheen assistance programs are available, but after doing some of her own internet research, she described the process as madness.
2:45 there is a lot of information out there, but it is not getting out to people�if you take five different prescriptions from five different companies, then you can have five different free things if you do five different applications.
Dodge applauded the programs that are available, but says there is a need for a national plan. The governor agrees. But says it will take time before Medicare will offer a prescription drug benefit. So she proposed three short-term solutions.
4:34 one is closing those patent loopholes, and make sure there are generic drugs that people know about them, and have access to them�secondly, that we can reimport those drugs from countries that have been approved, and are safe�the third we ought to be able to as a state, pass along to all of you, the savings we can make as a state by purchasing our drugs through our Medicare program.
The Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Ed Coyle thinks in Jeanne Shaheen, his organization has found a political candidate that will deliver on the promise to have the government pick up the tab for prescription drugs. The ARA is hoping multiple bus trips to Canada will underscore the pressing need facing seniors. But Coyle says he feels mixed whenever he sees people off.
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:32 it�s sad when I come ot these events, and send these buses off, b/c it�s sad that people have to take the bus to go to Canada to purchase these drugs. It�s good occasion that people are coming together to try to make a difference in their lives, but we are going to try to make sure they can get off the bus, and don�t have to drive to Canada anymore.
What�s sad to Charlie Jarvis of the United Seniors Association is what he calls gimmicks like bus trips to Canada.
3:15 as I was reading about the event today, of the tour to Canada, it only accented to me, that we are in a very deep house of mirrors, politically. This kind of stunt politics does not get to the real issue. There is a need. And this kind of politics which creates fear and bitterness, and bi-partisan wrangling is the exact opposite of what every senior wants.
The handful of New Hampshire residents that boarded the bus in Manchester, are expected back later today. For NHPR News, I�m DG.
