Posted on 05/07/2007 6:06:32 AM PDT by Wolfie
U.S. Senate OKs greater access to Canada drugs
But Bush vows to veto plan
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is courting a presidential veto on prescription drug imports from Canada.
The latest bid to legalize imports survived a major challenge yesterday in the upper house, where senators endorsed the idea by a vote of 63-28.
But there will be other hurdles for the amendment allowing more access to lower-priced medicine from Canada, part of a broader bill related to the Food and Drug Administration.
And even if it survives, President George W. Bush has vowed to veto the plan, also opposed by pharmaceutical companies with profit margins on the line.
Democrats, who now control Congress, have made legalizing cheaper bulk imports from Canada and other countries a priority.
A similar measure has been introduced in the House of Representatives.
“We are paying the highest prices for brand-name prescription drugs in the world and that’s not fair,” said Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who sponsored the amendment.
The FDA and some legislators argue imports open the door to tainted or counterfeit drugs and there are other ways to reduce drug costs.
But Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who started taking his constituents across the border to get drugs in the 1990s, said prices won’t drop enough while the pharmaceutical lobby wields such power.
Sanders is also pushing a measure authorizing the government to negotiate prices for drugs developed with federal funding.
Some groups in Canada worry that legalizing imports will spark a major increase in U.S. demand, causing supply problems north of the border.
Others say there won’t be a big crunch since many of the drugs that Canadian companies send south are supplied by some 30 other countries.
Still, many say federal Conservatives should move to ban bulk exports to the U.S. Canadian mail-order pharmacies make $1 billion CDN a year by employing about 3,000 people to supply some three million Americans.
What they should do is simply ban the drug companies from imposing price discrimination against American consumers. The drug companies are selling the same drug in Canada for less than they are selling it in the US.
Spoken from a person who has never run a business, I guess. Ever hear of "courtesy accounts", Senator? What an idiot this Dorgan is. Might as well call it the "Raise drug prices for our neighbors to the North" legislation.
Yep. Your company doesn’t like paying what Americans will work for, you can simply break the law to import cheaper illegal labor. Don’t worry, the government won’t enforce the laws you break.
If you need medications you can’t afford the government will make sure you get to struggle to pay for them so the same companies that break the law can maximize profit.
They should allow the re-importation. That will result in lower prices for the nation that invents these drugs, and higher prices (but free market) for the socialist jerks who live off of us, and resent every minute of it.
Something constructive they could do would be to look into why FDA approval costs one billion dollars per drug and streamline that process. Dems are always looking past their own part in problems and trying to foist solving them on someone else.
How many of the Canadian drugs are exactly the same as American drugs. Even from the same manufacturer.
I am betting that in many cases, they are the same.
We, American consumers, are getting ripped off.
I have first hand experience of it.
See...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1820999/posts?page=1,50
Yes, I know. There is a big difference between appliances and medicine. However, that may be a smoke screen.
Absolutely! We are getting ripped off!
What about the free market system, Bush?
I have a better idea - why don’t we stop making it ruinously expensive to bring new drugs to market, and impose a a “lose-pays” system to rein-in law suits?
They can start with drugs like Viagra.
ONE billion??? try about 17.....
Even the Democrats are right occassionally.
I think it would force the drug companies to change their practices, but I think it would be better to tell them that they can’t discriminate against US customers. My suspicion is that the Canadians will begin to pass laws against it if the US allows it. And irrespective, it’s not just a problem between Canada and the US. It’s a world-wide problem.
Basically, the problem is that the US is honoring the patent protection of these drugs, and letting the drug companies charge whatever they want, while foreign nations regulate the prices at low levels, and are essentially a free rider on the American consumer, who is footing the entire bill on R&D.
You've obviously never run a business either.
Oddly enough . . . if the U.S. government were to allow imports of drugs from Canada, the biggest losers would be Canadian consumers -- because drug makers would no longer be willing to sell drugs in Canada for those discounted prices anymore.
Sorry, but Canada has price controls.
By allowing Americans to buy from Canada results in de-facto price controls here in the United States.
THAT is not conservative, nor the American way!
Uh, no. It would never get that far. The drug companies would raise Canadian prices well before that.
Where is getting the government off your back philosophy now? I just hate control freaks! You must buy here. You must not cross the border. You are our slaves. Makes me sick!!!!
There is already talk in Canada of restricting this. Once the Canadians realize that their gravy train is endangered, they’ll cut it off.
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