Bernstein heads to Mexico to highlight key issue in Senate race

LAS VEGAS - Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Ed Bernstein will head to Mexico this week to highlight what he calls a defining issue in his race against Republican John Ensign: the soaring cost of prescription drugs.

The Las Vegas lawyer will haul a bus load of Clark County senior citizens to Tijuana on Tuesday to buy prescription drugs for a fraction of what they cost in Nevada.

Two-thirds of people on Medicare - which doesn't cover prescription drugs - buy supplemental insurance coverage. The rest must pay higher prices for their prescriptions or do without.

Bernstein and Ensign agree costs are a problem that must be addressed quickly, but disagree on a solution.

Ensign said he wants a plan that helps the neediest seniors buy prescriptions and not those who can afford supplemental insurance.

''I haven't exactly come up with exactly who should be covered,'' he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Bernstein embraces coverage for all seniors and wants the government to regulate prices.

He also supports a bill requiring drug companies to provide seniors the same low prices offered to government agencies.

''That doesn't cost a penny and it reduces the cost of drugs in half,'' Bernstein said.

Toni Beck, a Las Vegas senior who will join Bernstein on the bus ride to Tijuana, said she's outraged over the high cost of prescription drugs.

She lives on an income of less than $1,600 a month and spends $450 a month on prescriptions for her heart, arthritis, cholesterol and pain.

While she pays $113 a month to supplement her Medicare costs, she doesn't have prescription coverage.

''Why do we American citizens have to go to Mexico and pay less than half there?'' Beck asked.

Bernstein said Ensign has received $35,000 for his race from 12 drug companies so far.

Ensign, a former two-term congressman from Las Vegas, also got $41,250 from the industry in his unsuccessful 1998 bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., he said.

Bernstein, who has raised $1.1 million, including $505,000 of his own money, has pledged not to take any money from drug companies.

He has suggested Ensign is bought and paid for by the industry, a charge Ensign strongly denies.

''My loyalty is to making the right policy that makes health care coverage affordable and accessible,'' Ensign said.

Bernstein's political stunt this week is similar to one staged by Democratic Senate hopeful Brian Schweitzer in his uphill race against U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

Schweitzer has made drug costs a major issue, sponsoring bus trips to take senior citizens to Canada and Mexico, where drugs can be bought for far less.