Supreme Court upholds Maine Rx program.

• Position: On First Reading

The U.S. Supreme Court this spring upheld a Maine prescription drug discount program that provides low cost pharmaceuticals to all poor patients who qualify.

Maine began its campaign to give uninsured residents low-cost drugs three years ago. The law it enacted forced drug manufacturers to discount their prices for all seniors and other uninsured consumers if those companies wanted to sell to the large Medicaid program that serves the poor.

The intent was to give such people, estimated at 325,000, the same low prices charged to patients in the federal-state Medicaid program.

Short of actually setting prices, the Pine Tree State told manufacturers who did not cooperate that they could face having their products subjected to a "prior approval" process. The Maine Department of Human Services would have to approve prescriptions, case by case, before pharmacies could dispense the drugs. This gave the state some leverage since most physicians, insurers and pharmacists prefer not to have the delays and paperwork needed for the approval process. They often find another suitable drug that already is on the approved list.

Lawyers for the pharmaceutical industry took the state to federal court. The Federal district court in Portland, Maine, found that the program violated both the federal Medicaid statute (by restricting pharmaceutical...