Zolin
Puts Experience to Work at Seniors’ Legal Center
Legal
Guide for Seniors Now Available in Six Languages
Aging Committee
Gets New Leader
Help
Wanted: Spectrum
Advertising Sales
Photo
Feature: Sacramento
Then & Now
Spectrum Expressions:
Your Thoughts
Web Site of the Week
If you would like to order a copy of a Spectrum photo, CLICK HERE
Lawmakers Unveil Legislation Encouraging Drug Imports
Spectrum
staff
Five Democratic state lawmakers announced Thursday that they
have introduced legislation encouraging the government to find ways
to break the federal law against importing prescription drugs from
foreign countries.
Assembly members Dario Frommer, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Fran Pavley, Judy Chu and
Wilma Chan said their five-bill package, dubbed the Affordable Prescription Drug
Act of 2004, is intended to make drugs more affordable for seniors and taxpayers
who support government health programs.
The legislation would promote purchases from Canada, where government-mandated
price controls are in effect. Studies have shown that most brand name prescription
drugs are much cheaper in Canada, while generic drugs are cheaper in this country.
“This bill package is a prescription for relief from the high costs consumers
and taxpayers are paying for prescription drugs,” Frommer said. “It
empowers patients and state agencies to safely find the lowest prices possible
for the medications they need.”
Frommer said California taxpayers spent $2.9 billion for drugs in the Medi-Cal
program in 2002-03, and that figure is expected to increase to $3.8 billion in
2003-04.
Approximately 6.8 million Californians are eligible for Medi-Cal, and the caseload
increased 3.8 percent in the time period cited by Frommer, according to Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget summary.
The five bills would:
• Require the state Board of Pharmacy to establish a Web site with price
comparisons between U.S. and Canadian pharmacies, and with links to Canadian
pharmacies that meet certain guidelines.
• Authorize the state employees’ retirement plan to form a purchasing
pool with government and private agencies to negotiate lower drug prices.
• Authorize lawmakers to review contracts between drug companies and state
agencies.
• Create restrictions on private pharmacy benefit managers who administer
drug programs for government agencies, health plans, employers and other clients.
• Ban pharmacies from selling prescription data to drug companies — an
attempt to keep companies from aggressively marketing to doctors who prescribe
competitors’ drugs more often.
In addition, the lawmakers proposed two non-binding resolutions asking the federal
government to legalize drug importation from Canada and to allow government agencies
to negotiate volume discounts on drug purchases for Medicare recipients.
Under federal law, it is illegal to import a drug from a foreign country. The
Federal Drug Administration, responsible for enforcing the law, has issued a
public service announcement calling foreign purchases “a gamble you can’t
afford to take.”
“Foreign dealers — who are not always pharmacists — can give
you the wrong medicine, wrong strength, or wrong directions,” the FDA announcement
said. “The medicine can be old, fake, or contain dangerous ingredients.”
Despite such warnings and the likelihood of legal challenges to any state action
that would violate the federal law, the California Commission on Aging voted
recently to support efforts to import drugs from Canada.
“While recognizing the legal issues of drug importation, California and
its senior residents can ill afford to squander precious dollars on their life-saving
drugs,” said Ray Mastalish, executive director of the commission. “Denying
seniors access to such drugs is an act of extortion.”
Other groups endorsing efforts to import drugs are AARP, Gray Panthers, Health
Access and the California Nurses Association.
TOP | HOME
This page and its contents ©2004
Metropolitan News Company, Inc.
