There are two very quick things Congress could do to make health care more affordable. That it refuses to do either shows the power of greed over fairness.

That was proven again Tuesday when the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment co-sponsored by Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe that would have allowed the reimportation of low-cost prescription drugs from abroad.

Both Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins joined a narrow majority of senators, 51-48, voting in favor, but 60 votes were needed for passage.

We’ve gone around and around on this issue, and the facts remain the same.

Americans support the universities that educate the talented people who work for drug companies and develop life-saving treatments. We often pay for the research that leads to the development of new drugs.

For this generosity, we pay 35 to 50 percent more than the rest of the world to purchase drugs manufactured in our own country. Our market system allows Big Pharm to bilk us, while governments around the world negotiate fairer prices for their citizens.

So, in effect, consumers in the U.S. subsidize lower drug prices for people in other countries. Stupid. Crazy. Unfair. Bizarre.  Pick from the list. They all work.

It is telling that Canadian companies can import drugs, transport them to Canada, then reimport them back into the U.S. and still undercut the prices we pay at our local pharmacy.

Equally crazy is the Big Pharm bailout plan approved during the Bush administration. This harebrained scheme forces our senior citizens to compare the small print in dozens of intentionally confusing drug plans before selecting one. In effect, it pits Grandma against drug marketing departments full of people driving BMWs and wearing $800 suits.

Then the U.S. government picks up a lion’s share of the tab. This is in direct contrast to the excellent plans run by the U.S. military, the Veterans Administration and the U.S. government — all of which pay far, far less than Medicare and Medicaid do for our seniors.

Tuesday’s vote must be considered against the backdrop of escalating medical costs that are bankrupting our federal government.  Prescription drugs have, over the past decade, been one of the fastest-growing components of health care costs.

Republicans and moderate Democrats in the U.S. Senate are correct in saying the Obama health care plan does little to, as they say, “bend the cost curve.” The most frightening part of the plan is the $400 billion in unspecified cuts to Medicaid and Medicare it promises will occur over the next decade.

The proponents of the plan vaguely point to waste that will be cut and efficiencies which will occur, all of which will be figured out later.

Sure they will.

On Tuesday, Congress had an excellent opportunity to start cutting waste and obtaining efficiencies … and it backed down, afraid to offend the guys from Gucci Gulch, the lobbyists who parcel out the drug money that pads their campaign coffers.

If this is a sign of things to come, and we think it is, this health care bill will be a bust.

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