Calif. to file suit over Part D

The state of California will file a legal challenge against the federal government's new prescription drug plan, the state's attorney general said yesterday. The suit will argue that the new benefit is failing to deliver needed medicines to participants and that it could end up costing California as much as $750 million over the next three years. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who faces a tough election campaign this year after a disappointing 2005, ordered the suit, saying yesterday that problems with the implementation left him with no other choice. Other states are expected to join the legal action, which will be launched later this month.

California attorney general Bill Lockyer said in a statement: "This program may be profitable for drug companies, but it has been a disaster for seniors, and it threatens to be a nightmare for the state's taxpayers." The Senate Committee on Aging hears testimony on the roll out today.

- see this article from the Sacramento Business Journal
- read this article from Scripps Howard