ILLINOIS PRESCRIPTION PLAN IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED

Democrats in the Illinois Legislature have put forth a plan to create a giant buying club to help the state's senior citizens get discounts on prescription drugs.

The plan would work like any private-sector buying club, whose members enjoy savings because they make up a large customer bloc.

Here's how the plan is supposed to work:

People 65 and older could pay $25 a year to join the buying club. That would let them buy drugs for no more than prices quoted in a federal catalog. These prices would be anywhere from 25 percent to 52 percent below regular prices. Pharmacies would be able to sell at lower prices by getting a rebate on the drug prices from manufacturers. Manufacturers would be willing to offer rebates, which would be funneled through the state to the pharmacies, because they want the chance to sell lots of drugs to the buying club.

Supporters say the plan wouldn't cost taxpayers anything, because there wouldn't be any ongoing costs. The state would have to make a loan of $27 million to get the program started, but that would be paid back over time with revenue from the $25 membership fee, the sponsors say.

The program sounds almost too good to be true. But Illinois' most powerful senior citizens group -- the American Association of Retired Persons opposes it. Pharmacists oppose it. And drug manufacturers oppose it.

Opponents argue the buying club would fail because it is based on the false premise that drug manufacturers would provide rebates so pharmacies could offer customers lower prices. That didn't happen in Maine, the only other state that has such a plan, and Maine stopped enrolling people in the club because of a lack of participation by manufacturers.

Even if there were any hope for the plan to survive, the government shouldn't be in the business of setting up buying clubs for a select citizenry. That is best left up to private enterprise, which already offers prescription drugs at discount prices thanks to the buying volume of customers.

Illinois Democrats should see the writing on the wall. The buying club isn't working in Maine, and everyone who must participate to make it work in Illinois is opposed. Why, then, do officials still think it would work?

The Illinois Legislature should do what it did last year with a similar proposal: absolutely nothing.