Welch: Feds should lower drug costs
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TIMES ARGUS STAFF
TIMES ARGUS STAFF
TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: July 25, 2009
MONTPELIER (AP) — U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., says the federal government can save seniors and taxpayers money by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies on prescription drug prices for seniors in Medicare Part D.
Welch offered an amendment Thursday that he says would allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to drastically reduce the price of prescription drugs for seniors with the insurance plan.
Welch says it's a common sense way to use the government's purchasing power to save seniors and taxpayers money on prescription drugs.
His office says the Department of Veterans Affairs has found significant discounts by negotiating directly with drug companies on behalf of its beneficiaries.
Woman pleads innocent to selling drugs
BRATTLEBORO (AP) — A Vermont woman has pleaded innocent to charges she sold prescription drugs to a friend who later died from an overdose.
Forty-five-year-old Brenda Kennett of Westminster was arraigned in connection with the July 2008 death of 25-year-old Caitlin Lancey of Bellows Falls.
Police say Kennett sold Lancey four pills of Avinza , the trade name for morphine sulfate, for $200. Lancey was found dead the next morning in her bed by her husband, Douglas, who turned over one of the unused capsules to police.
Bellows Falls Police Detective Jennifer Carroll wrote in her affidavit that she had been to the Lancey home three times earlier for drug overdoses by Lancey.
Lancey's husband, Douglas, said his wife had hurt her toe and was seeking painkillers.
Entergy gets 6-month extension on spinoff
MONTPELIER (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given Entergy Corp. an extra six months to try to win state approvals and get financing to spin off five nuclear plants in New England, New York and Michigan.
Enexus wants to spin off Enexus Energy Corp. as a new company to own the plants: Pilgrim in Plymouth, Mass.; Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vt.; Indian Point in Westchester County, N.Y.; Fitzpatrick in Oswego County, N.Y.; and the Palisades plant in Covert, Mich.
In May, Entergy requested a six-month extension, citing uncertainties in the financial markets and the delays in getting approvals from the New York State Public Service Commission and the State of Vermont Public Service Board.
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