60 Minutes E-mail Alert
Nowhere on earth are prescription drug prices higher than in the United States and our lead story sheds light on the relationship between drug industry lobbyists and Congress that critics say keeps those prices up. Correspondent Steve Kroft gets behinds the scenes of the Medicare prescription drug bill, one of the most expensive ever put before the House and a boon for the drug industry. It extends limited prescription drug coverage to 41 million Americans, but specifically prohibits the government from negotiating the best prices for drugs. According to politicians interviewed, drug industry lobbyists wrote it in part. Lobbying has always been a part of Washington politics, but for one House member, the pressure applied to change votes to get this bill passed hit a new low. “It was horrible,” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) tells Kroft. "We had a good friend from Michigan, Nick Smith (formerly R-Mich.) and they threatened to work against his son who wanted to run for his seat when he retired," recalls Jones. "I saw…a member of the House, a lady, crying when they came around her, trying to get her to change her vote."
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