Will this be the week that legislators empower South Carolinians 65 and older to drive down prescription prices the American way - with market leverage? Readers should hope so because even middle-class seniors with medical problems face difficulty paying for costly medications.

Thanks to Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, and Sen. Dick Elliott, D-Myrtle Beach, a pair of identical bills to create a state bulk-buy program for prescriptions faces one last hurdle before reaching the desk of Gov. Mark Sanford: the S.C. Senate.

Deft handling of the bills last week by the Senate's Medical Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, rendered the Senate version of the bill congruent with the version that Clemmons guided through the House. Now, the Senate is set to take up the matter as early as Wednesday.

Senators should resist intense pharmaceutical-company lobbying to change the wording of either bill. Time for the 2003 session of the S.C. General Assembly is running short. Amendments probably would prevent passage of the bulk-drug program, S.C. Retirees and Individuals Pooling Together for Savings, this year.

Such delay would be a pity. The program would cost S.C. taxpayers nothing and involve no mandates or subsidies. Instead, enrollment fees would cover costs for the program administrator, the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The department, in turn, would buy medications on the market, in bulk, then pass them on to members at cost.

Just as Wal-Mart drives down consumer costs by placing big orders to leverage lower pricing from wholesalers, the SCRIPTS program would leverage favorable pricing from pharmaceutical companies in return for volume purchases. What could be more American?

The S.C. Silver-Haired Legislature, a politically attuned seniors group, has worked hard to get the legislation to this point, as have Clemmons, Elliott and other Horry legislators. With luck and continued pressure, the SCRIPTS program will clear its final hurdles this week and become reality this year.