Perspective
House Passes Drug Reimportation Bill
Congressional negotiators are working to define the terms for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. One of the difficulties they face is a $400 billion ten-year ceiling for the drug benefit set by the budget. With Canadian drugs on average 40 percent less expensive than their American counterparts, legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada would help lower the cost of drugs, allowing Medicare dollars to go further. These lower prices also would help the one-in-four uninsured older and disabled Americans who are having trouble affording the high cost of prescription drugs. The uninsured and insured alike are increasingly lowering their drug costs by importing prescription drugs from other countries, without any evidence of safety issues. The Congressional Research Service has in fact reported that Canada’s drug regulations closely mirror the high standards of the U.S. and that, therefore, Canadian drugs do not pose a health risk to U.S. consumers.
Because the evidence suggests that drugs imported from Canada are safe, many politicians do support a provision that will allow people to obtain their medicines from Canada. However, the Bush Administration, some Republicans in Congress, and the drug companies themselves oppose such a provision, claiming that Canadian drugs aren’t safe and that importation will hurt American pharmaceutical companies. Despite these claims, the importation of drugs from Canada is higher than ever. From just a few million dollars a year in 2000, importation has grown to a projected $800 million this year and shows no signs of abating. Many legislators have gotten the message. Earlier this year an unusual collaboration of Democrats and Republicans formed a coalition to support legislation that would make it legal for residents and U.S. pharmacies to purchase prescription drugs from Canada and two dozen other nations. This bill passed the House in July, favored by 87 Republicans and 155 Democrats.