CONCORD, N.H. – Northeastern states trying to lower prescription drug costs met for the fifth time Tuesday and expressed hope that their efforts will pressure Congress to act.

“The states are really carrying a tremendous burden,” said Jane Kitchel, secretary of the Agency of Human Services in Vermont. She said pharmacy costs are increasing by 18 percent while the economy is growing at only 4 percent, making it difficult for states to help people with health care costs.

“We’re going to be cannibalizing a lot of state governments,” she said, something not lost on federal lawmakers.

“I think in the upcoming [congressional] session, health care is going to be right at the forefront of legislation,” she told about 28 lawmakers from eight northeastern states.

There also was mention that both Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore pledged health care help during the presidential campaign, and the closeness of the election might further pressure them to act.

Others weren’t so sure.

State Sen. Mark Montigny of Massachusetts helped pass a bill designed to lower costs in his state, but it has never been put into effect because of opposition by pharmaceutical companies, he said. He sees the same opposition lobbying in Washington, where pharmaceutical companies contribute millions of dollars to election campaigns.

“Perhaps some day something will be done on a federal level,” he said, then added, “I doubt it.”

Commissioner Donald Shumway of New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services said Democrats and Republicans have taken so much money from pharmaceutical companies “their judgment is tainted.”

The six New England states and New York and Pennsylvania have been talking for about eight months about ways to lower prescription costs.

The three northern New England states – New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont – have joined to form a regional buying pool to wield more power in negotiations with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices. They plan to review bids from pharmacy benefits management companies in January, choose one in the spring and start the plan July 1. It would be the first multistate drug-buying pool in the country.

Each state also has individual plans to lower costs for the elderly and low-income people.

Shumway said one aim of the Northeast Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices is to learn some of the successful programs other states have implemented.

“Every state has done something differently,” Shumway said. “We’re all working in isolation against an industry that has more money. They’re outgunning us, outspending us and outsmarting us.”

But he said the association could play a major role in the fight.

“I’m very encouraged,” he said. He said if eight states banded together it would mean eight to 10 times more buying power and negotiating power than the three tiny New England states.

But for now, the three states are going it alone, regardless of what the others might decide.