Showdown vote nears on importing low-cost drugs

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of lawmakers hopes to finally win a long struggle to ease curbs against importing low-cost prescription drugs but will have to overcome the Obama administration and the pharmaceutical industry to do so. The Senate was resuming debate Thursday on President Barack Obama's drive to reshape the country's care system. The most crucial work was being done behind closed doors, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his lieutenants were hunting support for a tentative deal among moderate and liberal Democrats to expand the government's role in providing care. Such an agreement would move the Senate a step closer to approving its near trillion-dollar legislation. The bill would extend coverage to more than 30 million people, take modest steps to rein the growth of medical costs and end unpopular insurance company practices such as denying coverage to people who are already ill.