In his article entitled “Leading Dem Plans To Blow Up Deal With Big Pharma”, HuffingtonPost.com reporter Ryan Grim outlines the argument being made by North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan regarding foreign pharmaceuticals. Dorgan intends to ruin the deal made by the White House, Max Baucus and Big Pharma. Dorgan’s plan is to amend the current Health Care Bill to allow U.S. citizens to re-import prescription drugs from Canada. Dorgan goes on to argue that by allowing American’s to join in on the lower prices for prescription drugs in Canada, we will help to ease the rising costs many seniors and others currently incur when purchasing their medication. This amendment would likely save a lot of people a lot of money, however, I think that there might be a simpler answer. Instead of making drugs in the U.S., then shipping those drugs to Canada or Mexico where they are cheaper, and then re-importing those same drugs back into the United States, we should simply cut out the middle man. It really bothers me that Big Pharma was able to influence our Health Care bill before it was brought into the public sphere, and it seems illogical that the only way to allow free market principles to influence drug costs is by shuttling drugs back and forth between countries. It seems simple and intuitive to amend the bill to include provisions that would allow US costumers to collectively bargain for cheaper drugs. This model of collective bargaining has allowed Canadians as well as a number of other countries to experience cheaper prescription drug costs. Grim also cites sources that claim a potential savings of 50 Billion dollars in direct savings in the next decade. The gains from modifying our current prescription drug buying system would effect millions of American’s currently being drowned in prescription drug costs, all while using a very American tactic known as capitalism.
Ryan Grim's article can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/28/leading-dem-plans-to-blow_n_302235.html
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