Publications | FAQs | HIGPA Code of Conduct Principles

	Receive our bi-monthly Chairman’s Report to stay up-to-date with industry news, trends and advances.
	Receive our daily eNews which provides our members with tools that assist them in responding to challenges and opportunities within our industry.
	And more ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David McDonough
Phone: 703-243-9262

GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO EXPAND VETERANS' PHARMACEUTICAL DISCOUNTS WOULD RAISE PRIVATE SECTOR DRUG PRICES BY BILLIONS, WARNS ROBERT BETZ, Ph.D. IN TESTIMONY TO HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 26, 2000) -- Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) Executive Director Robert Betz, Ph.D. told the House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee on July 25 that efforts to expand the availability of reduced drug prices that the government negotiates on behalf of veterans would have the unintended impact of raising prices for all Americans.

Betz warned against allowing private benefit plans for federal employees to have access to the considerable discounts that the Department of Veterans Affairs receives for pharmaceuticals, because doing so could cost Americans billions of dollars more each year in health care costs.

Betz said that although it sounds like a great idea to allow non-VA beneficiaries to gain access to the discounts that veterans receive, a detailed analysis reveals that the end result of such an action would cause the discounts that the VA receives to shrink. Expanding VA discounts "not only will dismantle our pharmaceutical market, it promises to damage the VA and its ability to provide cost effective care to veterans," Betz told the subcommittee.

HIGPA's Trading Partner Members include many of the nation's leading health care product and medical supply manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and related suppliers. HIGPA's Industry Members include for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, purchasing groups, associations, multi-hospital systems, and health care provider alliances. According to a recent study conducted by a former principal analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, hospitals saved patients up to $19 billion in 1999 by purchasing products through group contracts.

HIGPA is a national chartered trade association of approximately 160 health care purchasing and supply chain organizations that serve approximately three out of every four U.S. acute care hospitals, as well as most of the long term care, home care and medical group practice markets. To learn more about HIGPA, visit our web site: www.higpa.org or call 703-243-9262.

Return to Press Room