WASHINGTON – Prices for Lipitor, Celebrex and other popular brand-name medicines offered by Medicare’s new drug discount cards are no better than those that consumers can find, without discounts, from online pharmacies. The drugs are cheaper still in Canada.

Medicare began posting drug prices on its Web site Thursday, allowing people to compare the new Medicare-approved discount drug cards and decide which offer the best prices.

Mark McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said consumers could find “significant price reductions off typical retail prices.” Democrats said the savings claimed by the administration would be eaten up by drug price increases that far outpace inflation.

About half of the 40 national and 32 regional cards were included in the initial listing of prescription drug prices. Medicare said it would update the site every Monday. The same information can be obtained by calling 1-800-Medicare.

Enrollment begins next week and the cards, which cost up to $30, take effect in June. Low-income Medicare beneficiaries can get a free card and $600 from the government to pay for prescriptions.

It is the first time the government has made available drug pricing information at individual pharmacies and mail-order operations across the country. Sponsors of the drug cards agreed to make the information available to participate in the discount drug card program.

But while the Bush administration was touting the savings offered by the new cards, the best prices on the Medicare Web site also were available Thursday at such online pharmacies as Washington state-based drugstore.com.

The Medicare prices also were a bit higher than those charged by Canadian pharmacies that state and local governments are beginning to link up with on behalf of their employees, retirees and residents.

The best Medicare mail-order prices for three best-selling brand-name drugs – the arthritis drug Celebrex, the osteoporosis drug Fosamax and cholesterol-lowering Lipitor – were at least a third higher than prices at the three Canadian pharmacies listed on the state of Wisconsin’s online prescription drug resource center.

Congressional Democrats, who opposed the Medicare law as a giveaway to drug companies and insurers, said legalizing drug imports from Canada – opposed by the White House – and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies – expressly banned in the Medicare law – would bring prices down.

House Democrats and Families USA, a consumer health care group, released separate studies Thursday showing that prices negotiated by Veterans Affairs also were well below those offered by Medicare discount cards.

“The discount card reminds me of a sale at Neiman-Marcus. They jack up the price just before they give you a 10 to 15 percent discount,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.

But McClellan said the cards allow Medicare beneficiaries to buy drugs at discounted prices at neighborhood pharmacies. He predicted additional discounts from card sponsors. “Price competition is just starting,” he said in a telephone news conference.

McClellan, an outspoken opponent of drug imports, said Americans who fill their prescriptions in Canada are risking their safety.

The Web site is part of the Bush administration’s campaign to promote the drug cards to older Americans who, polls suggest, are only dimly aware of what it is.

By entering a ZIP code and prescription information, consumers can obtain prices offered by the different cards at nearby pharmacies or through the mail.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said people without prescription drug coverage who use the card would see average savings of 17 percent on brand-name drugs and 30 percent on generics. McClellan said those figures were discounts off an industry reference price, not the retail price.

On the Net:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: http:///www.medicare.gov/AssistancePrograms/

House Democrats’ drug price comparison: http:///www.house.gov/reform/min/