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Medicare Drug Program News
White House, Pharmaceutical Companies Losing Battle
to Block Canadian Drugs
Congressional negotiators
finding way to
allow imports from Canada
September 22, 2006 – With a wave of companies, like
Wal-Mart and Kmart, introducing sizable discounts on generic drugs,
another opportunity for senior citizens to save on the cost of their
meds may eventually come from the federal government. Yesterday,
negotiators from the House and Senate reached something of an agreement
on allowing Americans to purchase drugs from lower-cost suppliers in
Canada – a move that has been staunchly opposed by the Bush
administration and pharmaceutical companies.
 Lawmakers
Reach Tentative Agreement To Allow U.S. Residents To Purchase 90-Day
Supply of Prescription Drugs From Canada
House and Senate negotiators on a $33.7 billion
fiscal year 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill on Thursday
reached a tentative agreement on the prescription drug reimportation
provisions that have delayed passage of the legislation for several
days, Congress Daily reports (Cohn/Swindell, CongressDaily, 9/22).
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Senate Passes Bill to Stop Seizure of Drugs from
Canada
Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.): This will ensure Americans,
especially the frail, elderly have a chance of affording the medications
that they need.
July 13, 2006 – Senior citizens and other Americans
may soon be able to purchase drugs from Canada at prices many claim are
even lower than those offered by the Medicare drug plans. The Senate
passed the bill on Tuesday, following increased enforcement of the ban
by Custom and FDA officials.
Read more...
AARP Controversy with Newspaper Emphasizes Its
Conflicts
The Hill says AARP is softening on imported drugs,
favoring Medicare drug plans like they help sell
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
Jan. 5, 2006 – Has AARP softened its support for
imported drugs, because they find drugs are cheaper from the Medicare
drug program than from Canada?
Read more...
Read more
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Medicare
or
Medicare Drug Program |
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The Senate in July voted 68-32 to approve an
amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill sponsored by Sen.
David Vitter (R-La.) that would prohibit seizures by
U.S. Customs and Border Protection of prescription drugs purchased
from Canadian pharmacies by U.S. residents.
The House has approved two appropriations bills --
Homeland Security and Agriculture -- that include provisions to allow
the purchase of prescription drugs from other nations. The provision
included in the House Homeland Security appropriations bill would allow
the purchase of prescription drugs from any nation (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 9/21).
Under the agreement, the final Homeland Security
appropriations bill would include a provision under which U.S. residents
could personally transport as much as a 90-day supply of prescription
drugs from Canadian pharmacies. The provision would not allow U.S.
residents to purchase prescription drugs from other nations over the
Internet or by mail (Jakes Jordan,
AP/Detroit Free Press, 9/22).
According to CongressDaily, the issue of
prescription drug reimportation -- "always sensitive given seniors'
concerns, particularly in an election year" -- had "proved an unwelcome
distraction for Republican leaders, caught between the demands of the
pharmaceutical lobby and their own rank-and-file members."
Congressional Republican leaders, the White House
and the pharmaceutical industry support the current ban on prescription
drug reimportation (CongressDaily, 9/22).
Reaction
Vitter called the agreement "a major victory" (Crowley, CQ Today,
9/21). He added, "I think it's a significant breakthrough that strongly
suggests that it's only a matter of time before we pass full-blown
reimportation" (Alpert,
New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/22).
However, Ken Johnson, a senior vice president for
the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said, "We are
adamantly opposed to importation for safety reasons" (Rogers, Wall
Street Journal, 9/22).
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