California defeats discount drug referenda
Voters on Tuesday defeated both rival prescriptiondrug discount measures, Proposition 78 and Proposition 79, after thepharmaceutical industry waged a bare-knuckled, record-breaking $80million campaign to stop a profit-threatening, nationwide trend beforeit got started.
With 80 percent of precincts reporting,Proposition 79 lost 62 percent to 38 percent. The drugindustry-sponsored Proposition 78 also lost, 58 percent to 42 percent,with 80 percent of precincts reporting.
Fronted by its powerful Washington-basedlobbying outfit, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers ofAmerica, the drug industry spent $50 million on a statewide media blitzand another $13 million on glossy mailers and other campaign literaturein an effort to defeat Proposition 79. The measure would have requiredcompanies to give steep discounts to uninsured Californians if theywanted to participate in the state’s Medi-Cal program, which providesabout $4 billion in drugs annually to poor and elderly people.
The industry also qualified the competing Proposition 78 ballot initiative, which made such a discount program voluntary.