| Instead of asking, "How do we pay the outrageous costs of prescription drugs?" we should be asking "Why do we pay the outrageous costs of prescription drugs?" We shouldn't be importing Canadian prescription drugs, we should instead be imitating Canadian price controls. |
| The Bush administration is a big proponent of "globalization" when it provides cheap labor to American corporations, but when the same principal threatens to provide cheap prescription drugs to American consumers, they are suddenly against this philosophy. The US House of Representatives recently passed a bill (over the objections of the well funded drug lobby) that would allow Americans to purchase imported prescriptions drugs from Canada, where prices are significantly lower. (This legislation is currently being blocked by Tom DeLay R-Houston, perhaps the most corporate-friendly, consumer-unfriendly member of the House of Representatives.) Even with it's good intentions, this legislation is a cowardly attempt by our government to regulate drug prices. They are relying on the courage of the Canadian government to stand up to the drug manufacturers so that they can piggyback their legislation on price controls imposed by Canada. If governments in foreign countries can control the cost of prescription drugs, then there is no reason why our government can't control them. The pharmaceutical industry made more than $20 million in political contributions in the last election, with about $8 of every $10 going to Republicans, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. Source: Dallas Morning News "Drug imports revisited" - 3/13/04 Three years after the drug industry said it would stop showering doctors with expensive gifts, a top federal drug official told a Senate panel on Thursday that such marketing efforts continued. The drug industry has long spent billions of dollars annually -- far more than it spends on research -- trying to persuade doctors to prescribe its pills. Source: "Drug Makers Are Still Giving Gifts to Doctors, F.D.A. Officials Tell Senators" by Gardiner Harris - New York Times - March 3, 2005 If price controls aren't available as an immediate remedy, opposing imported Canadian drugs because they aren't safe is a total smoke screen. Many of the most prescribed drugs are shipped to both Canadian and American pharmacies by the same overseas manufacturers. How could they be safe in American but not in Canada? The truth is that the big pharmaceutical companies have used some of consumers money to buy the government officials (that are supposed to represent consumers) in order to preserve laws that are beneficial to the companies and detrimental to consumers. They also use consumers money to convert doctors into pill salesmen. Instead of using importation as a system of price controls, the US government should implement its own set of price controls on prescription drugs. |
|
Read what others have said about this statement here.
Use the section at the bottom of the screen to submit your own comment. | ||
| Comments | Contributor | Date Submitted |
| Now we learn that the government has given pharmaceutical companies the OK to test and develop drugs in other countries because it's cheaper. Will the lowered cost be passed on to the consumer? Of course not. | Linda Denton |
10/5/2004 |
| We could learn a lot from the Canadians, eh? The way the U.S. legislature carries on about Canadian drugs, etc., you'd think it was some 3rd world country where people live in grass huts and eat raw meat. | Linda Denton |
12/10/2004 |
| This is becoming a country of have and have nots. Soon only the wealthy will be able to have medical care (which is hsn accounts - for people who can pay their medical expenses in cash!!) | 6/17/2005 | |
| The problem is the wet-backs are draining our resources. What we need are leaders with some back bone that will enforce our immigration laws. | BlueMax |
9/26/2005 |
| Although a case can be made that illegal immigrants drain medical resources, I don't think you can make a case that illegal immigrants contribute to the rising cost of prescription drugs, or that they impede the establishment of cost controls. Where's the connection Max? | Webmaster SpinShield |
10/2/2005 |
| Join the campaign for progressive legislation http://buyblue.biz Please do not buy products from these Republican contributors. The Republican Party appears weak and vulnerable at the cash registers of the companies that give money to the Republican Party. Stop buying products from these Republican contributors and to tell others as well to stop. Thank you. Dell Computers, Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, General Electric and Exxon/Mobil. A progressive agenda for America. I demand that the Republican Party hold a press conference and accede to these demands. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation and/or actions gets passed I will boycott products from Republican contributors Dell Computers, Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, General Electric and Exxon/Mobil. I demand that congress pass legislation ending the war in Iraq and withdraw the troops and arrange with the United Nations to replace US troops with UN troops to defend Iraq until The Iraqi army can defend Iraq. I demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman's right to choose abortion or not. I demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to harrass immigrants to this country. I demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits to a year or more for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work. I demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector. I demand that the congress make all of a person's earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar taxable income limit. This will make social security solvent for many years to come. I demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well. I demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year. I demand congress repeal the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003. I demand congress enact single payer universal health insurance for every citizen as minimum coverage. I demand that congress and the president enact universal vote by mail throughout the 50 states of the United States of America with paper ballots easy to fill out and difficult to change or invalidate by Republican Party officials. This will prevent Republicans from vote suppression by skin color and political party which happened electronically and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections. I demand that congress and the president enact that civil servants on every state payroll keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes. I demand that congress and the president ban the secretary of state in each of the 50 states from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign. I demand congress enact legislation protecting private pensions from corporations deliberately declaring bankruptcy or ending pensions outright. | www.buyblue.biz |
5/6/2006 |
| Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! jxaxzncqygc | rhmywpltjy rhmywpltjy |
6/22/2007 |
Submit your comment below | ||