Proponents of prescription drug benefits for seniors are afraid that any efforts to pass such a plan may be stalled for the year, with lawmakers and the White House arguing over cost and structure.

Rising drug prices have put pressure on Congress and the President to provide coverage, but controversy over the extent of such coverage, and how to provide it, has so far prevented any action. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) admitted that some of his fellow Republicans were trying to put the issue off until next year, but he said he still hoped to craft legislation by July that would expand Medicare to include prescription drug benefits.

Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV), ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, was less hopeful, and joined other lawmakers to urge U.S. states to enact plans of their own. Several states are already forming prescription drug purchasing pools to lower their costs. "Some states will do better in terms of benefits," said Rockefeller. "Some will do less well in terms of benefits. But that's better than having nothing happen at all, which is what we seem to specialize at in this committee and in this Congress."