NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - A group of Texas pharmacists are lobbying the White House over Medicare's prescription drug program, saying they are not getting paid enough money, according to a report Monday.

The pharmacists, all independent operators from Texas with close ties to either President Bush or his senior advisor Karl Rove, say they have given away million of dollars of free medicines for which Medicare should have paid, according to the New York Times.

"If pharmacists don't receive immediate relief, some will go broke," Bill Pittman, a former president of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy who is chairman of Pharmacists for Bush, a political fund-raising group, was quoted by the Times as saying he told Rove. "Others are hurting so bad that they will choose not to participate in Medicare and Medicaid."

While those meeting with Bush were from independent Texas pharmacies, their concerns are said to be shared by the large pharmacy chains nationwide, the article said.

The pharmacists said Medicare typically takes up to 30 days to pay its bills, as opposed to a week or 10 days for Medicaid or private health insurers, according to the Times.

They suggested requiring Medicare to pay up in a week or ten days by electronic transfer and introducing financial incentives for pharmacies to dispense cheaper generic drugs, the article said.

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