ALBANY -- Both candidates for governor, Republican John Faso and Democrat Eliot Spitzer, want to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and have pledged to work to do that if they're elected.

Governors and lawmakers have been talking about trying to trim the costs of prescription drugs for decades, and no wonder: Just this year the state is paying $4.3 billion for drugs for Medicaid recipients and seniors with low incomes.

And besides the cost to taxpayers, there are millions of other New Yorkers who don't have health insurance or whose health insurance doesn't pay much for drugs and thus have to come up with, in some cases, hundreds of dollars a month to pay for the medications they need. And of course, the rising cost of drugs is probably the main culprit in the spiraling cost of health insurance, which impacts the bottom line of businesses, making them less likely to create new jobs.

Lowering the costs "is squarely in the economic interests of consumers and taxpayers," said Chuck Bell of Consumers Union. He estimated as many as 5 million New Yorkers would benefit.

One of the people who is trying to figure out how to make ends meet and still get the drugs she needs is Fran Weatherwax, a 63-year-old retired nurse from the Albany suburb of Guilderland. She said she spends $400 a month for 20 different prescriptions that hold her diabetes and heart problems in check.

In response to stories like this, the state Assembly earlier this year passed a bill that would allow the state, individuals and businesses to create a drug-buying pool. Individuals, of any age or income, would be issued a prescription-buying card by the state, which would entitle them to get the same price as the state itself.

Such a plan would give everyone more clout in the marketplace, advocates say, and allow them to drive a harder bargain with drug companies and get lower prices.

The bill to create the buying pool was also introduced in the Senate, but it wasn't acted on before lawmakers left town for the summer in June.

The Senate was back at the Capitol last week to confirm a judge to the state Court of Appeals and pass a bill requiring insurance policies to provide the same level of benefits for mental-health ailments as physical problems.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said the bill was "still being reviewed." He pointed out that the Senate and Assembly had earlier this year passed other measures to save consumers money on prescription drugs, and that their effects were being studied to decide if more changes should be made.

"The only people to oppose these bills are the drug companies," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group, one of the organizations pushing the bill. Horner said the measure appeared likely to pass in June, but a lobbying blitz by the drug companies held it up.

In January, when either Spitzer or Faso takes over, the drug lobbyists will still be around and barring a string of unanticipated upsets, most of the lawmakers in the chamber when the new governor delivers his first State of the State message will be the same ones who were at the Capitol last week. The current legislative leaders will almost certainly be elected to another two years in their jobs.

This is cache, read story here