Letter to the Editor

"States Take Lead on Health Care As Budget Pinch Forces Reform" (A1, Oct. 11) quotes me inaccurately and out of context, leading the reader to believe that I approve of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's discount prescription drug plan for the uninsured.

Rather than praising the bipartisanship that led to its implementation, I criticized it. The new plan has a number of drawbacks: It likely violates federal Medicaid rules, will almost certainly waste taxpayer dollars in lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry and does nothing to make health insurance more affordable or available to Californians. Its chances of actually reducing drug prices are slim to nil.

I have proposed an alternative, freely available here.

John R. Graham, director, health care studies, Pacific Research Institute