Judge schedules hearing in suit against HHS chief

A federal judge has scheduled a Sept. 6 hearing in the lawsuit that the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association have brought against Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson over President Bush's recent proposal to offer a prescription drug discount card to seniors. The government says the cards could save seniors up to 25 percent of the retail cost of prescriptions, but others charge the program could cost seniors more than they pay now. The two associations contend the government followed improper procedures in developing the proposal, including consulting pharmaceutical benefit managers who would run the program, prior to announcing it. House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee ranking member Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., recently filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the pharmacists. "President Bush's program is designed to benefit private industry, not those people entitled to benefits under Medicare and for whom Medicare was created," Stark said in a statement Tuesday. The government has until next Tuesday to respond to the complaint.