Drug Import Bill is Smart, but It Isn't a Solution ; A State Bill Would Help Vulnerable Residents Get Cheaper Drugs, but More Should Be Done.
Posted on: Wednesday, 9 March 2005, 15:00 CST
In the fight against the rising cost of prescription drugs, state Rep. James Campbell, R-Newfield, is offering another weapon.
Newfield's bill directs the state Department of Health and Human Services to import discounted drugs from Canada and other states and sell those drugs to the elderly and people with disabilities.
The drugs would be randomly tested for safety and wouldn't include habit-forming painkillers or antibiotics for acute illnesses.
It's not a bad idea, and it's worth doing to help the state's most vulnerable residents to get the medicines that they need.
What the bill doesn't do, however, is solve the core problem: Prescription drugs in America are too expensive.
There are a number of other initiatives underway to help counteract those rising costs, but they don't solve the problem, either: Gov. Baldacci is seeking federal approval for a bulk drug reimportation plan so that the Penobscot Nation can set up a distribution center. U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe filed a bill that would make reimportation legal, and the state of Maine has set up a committee for studying ways to gain better access to drugs from Canada.
Newfield's bill is an attempt to accomplish the same: improve access to less-expensive prescription drugs. Many elderly travel to Canada on bus trips to buy the medications they need, but lots of seniors and people with disabilities aren't able to make the trip.
All of these are worth doing. They're like cold medicine, though: They counteract a symptom, but they don't kill the virus.
The federal government should take action - perhaps exploring a deal with drug companies to lengthen patent terms in exchange for lower costs - so that residents and lawmakers are no longer forced to find a way around the system.
Source: Portland Press Herald
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