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Democratic lawmakers want to let the federal government negotiate Medicare drug prices, which they say would generate enough savings to improve the overall program.The savings would be used to close the gap in prescription drug coverage for seniors known as the "doughnut hole," Democratic leaders say. Under the current system, about 22.5 million seniors and disabled people are enrolled in private insurance plans subsidized by the government. The insurers negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over how much they will pay for the drugs covered by the plans.The proposed change is likely to run into opposition from the Bush administration. The U.S. secretary of health and human services, Mike Leavitt, has said that the government shouldn't negotiate Medicare drug prices, and he called the idea "a surrogate for a much larger issue, which is really government-run health care."The Associated Press
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