Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

p News of the pending amendment, to be introduced when the health-care reform bill makes it to the Senate floor, has alarmed some Canadian observers who fear re-importation could lead to shortage of drugs in Canada. law, only pharmaceutical companies are allowed to import prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration into the United States. Consequently, Dorgan has long maintained, Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs !–more– than anywhere else in the world. Bennett herself raised that concern in her testimony on Wednesday.
My goal over time is for us not to pay more than you, because you set prices and cause us to pay more when we’re doing all the innovation, Corker added. S. S. Drug companies import more than US $40 billion in drugs into the United States, while drug wholesalers and consumers are shut out of the global marketplace. Please don’t think that you can import cheap drugs from Canada … it will last us about 36 days, she told Corker. Dorgan will introduce an amendment to the health-care reform legislation currently before the Senate finance committee that would legalize so-called re-importation. He replied: That’s a silly way of dealing with it. Under current U. It’s the drug companies, sir, and they’re multinational — it’s nothing about the United States of America, she told him. In essence, the Canadian government and its citizens are taking advantage of our citizens by virtue of setting prices that are lower than competitive prices. One of the things that has troubled me greatly about our system is the fact that we pay more for pharmaceuticals and devices than other countries, and yet it’s not really our country so much that’s the problem, it’s the parasitic relationship that Canada and France and other countries have towards us, the Tennessee lawmaker told Carolyn Bennett. … You benefit from us, and we pay for that, and I resent that. The panel, chaired by Democratic Sen. Democratic senator Byron Dorgan from North Dakota is preparing to make a legislative push in the days to come that would legally allow Americans to buy cheaper Canadian drugs. Their debate comes as U. Senate committee. Herb Kohl and including newly minted Sen. She seemed puzzled by Corker’s remarks, reminding him that drug pricing was a global concern, not part of a plot by Canada.
Canada benefits financially from America’s role as a world leader in medical advances, Republican Senator Bob Corker charged in an exchange with a Liberal MP as she testified before a U. S. An American legislator called Canada parasitic on Wednesday for siphoning U. Al Franken, was examining how successful health-care systems keep their costs low while maintaining quality care. dollars to Canada with low prescription drug prices while his country does all the innovation.
Bennett, a family doctor and one-time minister of state for public health, was one of five people testifying before the Senate special committee on aging. Meaning that you set prices and unfortunately all the innovation, all the technological breakthroughs, just about, take place in our country. S.

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