-Caveat Lector- Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 8:01 AM Subject: FW: Can't He Ever Tell the Truth > Good grief. Nothing this guy won't say. > > >Aides concede Gore made up story > > > >By Dave Boyer and Sean Scully > >THE WASHINGTON TIMES > > > >Vice President Al Gore's indignant tale of a prescription drug costing > >more for his mother-in-law than for his dog came back to bite him > >yesterday when aides said the story was made up Mr. Gore, who told the > >anecdote in Florida to illustrate the need for his $253 billion drug plan > >for seniors, fabricated the cost of the drug itself, the comparative doses > >for his pet and for Tipper's mom, and his family's bills for them. > > > >In fact, Gore aides yesterday could not say whether the candidate's > >mother-in-law, Margaret Ann Aitcheson, pays for the arthritis medication > >Lodine out of her own pocket or if the cost is covered by insurance. A > >spokesman for Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush said the > >episode was only the latest example of Mr. Gore's "troubling pattern of > >embellishing and exaggerating his plans and personal experiences." The > >vice president has exaggerated his role in the creation of Internet and > >claimed he and wife Tipper were the inspiration for the Erich Segal novel > >"Love Story." "This certainly underscores the fact that the vice president > >will say anything to get elected," said Bush spokesman Karen Hughes. A > >Gore spokesman, Jano Cabrera, responded, "The only one who's inventing > >facts here are the Bush campaign.The facts are that Miss Aitcheson is > >prescribed Lodine." But other details that Mr. Gore presented as facts on > >Aug. 28 in Tallahassee are clearly wrong. Mr. Gore said he pays $37.80 per > >month for Shiloh, his 14-year-old black Labrador retriever, to take > >Etogesic, the animal version of Lodine. He said his mother-in-law's > >monthly bill is $108. At the time, Mr. Gore said of his family's > >predicament: "That's pretty bad when you have got to pretend to be a dog > >or a cat to get a price break." However, Gore aides acknowledged yesterday > >that those figures are not the actual costs for Mr. Gore's family. They > >were borrowed instead from a House Democratic study on rising drug prices. > >Mr. Cabrera could not say yesterday what the actual costs are for either > >the dog or Mrs. Aitcheson. "I'm not sure exactly what levels she takes or > >Shiloh takes," he said. And Mr. Gore's example wrongly assumed that both > >pet and human were taking the same dosage, which veterinarians say would > >cause serious digestive problems in a dog. Further, Mr. Gore misused the > >prices from the Democratic report because they represent the price to > >wholesalers, not the retail cost of the brand-name drug. Mr. Cabrera > >presented that inaccuracy yesterday as a positive for his boss. "Keep in > >mind they're paying retail costs, so [the disparity] is going to be only > >higher," he said. But asked whether Mr. Gore's mother-in-law has insurance > >or pays out of pocket, Mr. Cabrera said, "I'll have to look into that." > >Another misleading feature of Mr. Gore's story, first reported by the > >Boston Globe, is that 85 percent of the people who receive the medication > >take a generic version rather than the more costly brand-name Lodine. The > >Florida pharmacist who hosted a campaign event for Mr. Gore last month > >said most of his customers are too poor to receive the drug prescribed for > >the vice president's mother-in-law. "Most of our customers are on > >Medicaid, and we have to give them the generic," said Wilmoth Baker of > >Baker's Pharmacy in Tallahassee. "I just took [the anecdote] as political > >rhetoric." Lodine costs about four times as much as its generic > >counterpart. A typical month's supply of the generic version for humans > >costs about $40, while the brand name costs about $160. Mr. Gore's basic > >premise is correct - prescription drugs in general do cost more for humans > >than for pets. But a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and > >Manufacturers of America (PRMA) said yesterday that aspect should not be > >surprising because federal law requires rigorous human clinical trials > >before a drug is declared safe for use. "Common sense would tell you that > >developing a drug for a person is far more costly than developing it for a > >dog," said Jackie Cottrell. "This whole comparison is making us a little > >crazy." The PRMA said it takes 12 to 15 years and about $500 million on > >average to develop a safe and effective drug for humans. The Animal Health > >Institute estimates that the average animal-only drug requires $20 million > >of research and development. Mrs. Hughes said Mr. Gore's mistake went > >beyond the simple mispronunciations by Mr. Bush that the vice president's > >campaign has delighted in reporting to the > >media. "This case is a direct misstatement of fact, which I think is far > >more serious," she told reporters aboard Mr. Bush's campaign plane. Mr. > >Gore's announcement of his prescription drug plan in Florida, one week > >before Mr. Bush proposed his own > >plan, is credited with improving Mr. Gore's prospects of winning the state > >with 25 electoral votes. Florida is home to nearly 3 > >million seniors. > > > Donald J. Rowan > 8501 Aqueduct Road > Potomac, Maryland 20854 > Voice: (301) 762-3667; FAX: (301) 838-9119; Pager: (301) 565-1382; > Mobile: (301) 520-1450 > > "Always do right- this will gratify some and astonish the rest. " ... Mark > Twain > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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