Illinois May Buy Canadian Drugs

[kskiska]

Move Escalates Battle on Prices

Monday, September 15, 2003; Page A01

Facing budget-breaking increases in prescription drug bills, the governor of Illinois took the first step yesterday toward purchasing lower-cost medications from Canada, a move that puts him in direct conflict with federal regulators and signals a dramatic escalation in the civil war over U.S. drug prices.

What began a decade ago with busloads of senior citizens trekking across the border in search of cheaper medicines has mushroomed into a nationwide rebellion. It has spread from small, nonprofit groups to the private sector, and now, to local and state officials who are defiantly ignoring warnings by the Bush administration and the pharmaceutical industry that drug reimportation is dangerous and illegal.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, said he has directed the Illinois special advocate to draft a plan for buying inexpensive medications in Canada for as many as 240,000 state employees and retirees. Sources said he intends to pursue the change, which could save the state tens of millions of dollars.

(snip)

Depending on the drug, the discounts in Canada can be as much as 80 percent, savings that have proven especially irresistible to senior citizens who do not have prescription coverage under Medicare.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10735-2003Sep14.html

[Nottingham]

1. Good for Illinois!

:bounce:

[Don_G]

2. A Crack In The Armor

If it passes, the state will be looking to Canada for drugs for it's low income family programs next.

[Webster Green]

3. Ashcroft will say that buying Canadian drugs aids the terrorists...

Wing-nuts will be serving "freedom bacon".

[david_vincent]

4. I was just reading a link that was posted in the Economic Issues forum...

in which it was stated that approximately half of all domestic bankruptcies are precipitated by a health emergency.
So the question is, how long do pharmaceutical companies expect American citizens to go on bankrupting themselves in order to pay exorbitant prices for drugs?
And I expect that DUers are smart enough to know which side has paid off the legislators in advance...

[moondust]

5. An exodus will follow.

Costing the drug companies billions. They won't take it laying down.

Some drug companies have already threatened to stop supplying Canadian pharmacies that export to the U.S.