ALBANY — To purchase the diabetic-testing supplies she needs, Mariann Yoder, 76, must be on multiple health plans to cover all health care costs.

"It was very confusing for me" when trying to find a plan that would cover her prescription drug costs and diabetic supplies, said the Horseheads resident. "They're very expensive, the testing supplies. Very, very expensive."

Yoder and O'Dell were two of about 35 Chemung County residents who traveled to the Capitol on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to pass a measure that would create a collective-bargaining system for private and state insurance plans to purchase prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies at a discounted rate.

"This bill creates a huge negotiating pool for gaining rebates from the drug companies for millions of people," said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, at a news conference with about 40 senior citizens from around the state.

Lawmakers said that all senior citizens would be eligible, including those covered by the state-funded EPIC program, which covers people over 65 with low incomes. Also eligible would be Medicaid recipients and those who receive public-employee health care. Medicaid is a health-care program for low-income people.

With a budget of $48 billion, it takes up the largest share of the state budget. In March, Senate Republicans said they expected health-care costs in the state to rise 72 percent in six years.

"We need to make sure all our seniors are covered," said state Sen. Martin Golden, R-Brooklyn, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate. "Can you imagine the savings we'll see for the costs of their prescription drugs?" He couldn't put a dollar figure on the potential savings, however.

Lawmakers said that 27 states have similar programs. In Maine, where the program has been under way for several years, the price of brand-name drugs was reduced by 15 percent, Gottfried said. The price of generic drugs went down 20 percent.

The average price of a retail prescription in the state was $63.34 in 2003, according to the AARP. Prices for a prescription rose twice the rate of inflation between 2004 and 2005, officials said.

Lawmakers in the Democratic-led Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate are trying to reach a deal, but the idea has met opposition from pharmaceutical companies. A spokeswoman for Pharma, the national lobbying group for drug companies, declined comment.

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