by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 3, 2011 | Drug Importation, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
As the retrial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges commences, we’d like to re-direct your attention to the personal drug importation program he championed. Had that program received better backing from our politicians, fewer Americans would have gone without needed medications.
In October of 2004, a personal drug importation program called I-Save Rx was launched under the leadership of Blagojevich and then Congressman Rahm Immanuel. The lead pharmacist responsible for the program’s development was Ram Kamath, PharmD, now Director of Pharmacy Policy and International Verifications for PharmacyChecker.com. I-Save Rx showed state residents how to access affordable medication from approved pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Within just seven months, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and Vermont had joined the initiative, allowing their residents to participate as well.
Unfortunately, after its approval, the government did not market the I-Save Rx program and it suffered due a lack of political will. But I-Save Rx’s creation proved that government could, without much difficulty, create a program to facilitate the purchase of affordable medication from Canada and other countries. In fact, our current Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, was governor of Kansas when she approved the program for use by her state’s residents. It should speak volumes that the administration official now tasked by President Obama with “protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves” approved of a personal drug importation program and made it available to the residents of Kansas. (more…)
Tagged with: Americans, Blagojevich, Canada, Dr. Ram Kamath, Drug Importation, Health Secretary, I-Save RX, Ireland, Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, Missouri, President Obama, public health, Rahm Immanuel, Retrial, United Kingdom, United States, Vermont, Wisconsin
by PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 2, 2011 | Drug Importation
A new SmartMoney.com article entitled Ten Things the FDA Won’t Tell You reaffirms what we’ve reported in the past – when it comes to drug importation for personal use, the FDA generally does not intervene. “Feel free to buy drugs across the border,” the article’s subhead reads. And the FDA confirms, “The agency focuses enforcement only on imports that are intended for resale.”
However, purchasing imported or domestically sold drugs through online pharmacies requires consumer caution, as fraudulent rogue online pharmacies abound. Importantly, the SmartMoney article also references a study conducted by Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute and published in the Public Library of Science, which confirmed that drugs sold on the internet that had been properly verified by either the PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program or the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s VIPPS Program sell genuine medication and require a prescription. (more…)
Tagged with: Congressman Ron Paul, FDA, NABP, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, personal drug importation, Public Library of Science One, Senator Chuck Grassley, SmartMoney, Verification Program, VIPPS
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 14, 2010 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
As too many Americans skip taking their medication due to cost, the issue of drug affordability is of critical importance to public health. It is also one that politicians ignore or wrongly address to their peril. Urging Republican lawmakers not to ignore Americans who are struggling with high drug prices, Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute recommended a nuanced, free-market approach to the problem of high drug prices. In an article published yesterday by AEI, Mr. Bate called for the decriminalization of personal drug importation and the continued statutory ban on wholesale drug importation. By doing so, more Americans who are disadvantaged by high drug prices can find relief through safe and affordable international online pharmacies, while not undermining pharmaceutical research and development in the United States, which, he argues, relies on the maintenance of our wholesale drug importation laws.
Underscoring Mr. Bate’s position was his recognition, based on his own empirical research, that Americans who purchase brand name prescription drugs from non-U.S. pharmacies could do so with confidence by consulting the approved list of online pharmacies found on PharmacyChecker.com.
Tagged with: AEI, American Enterprise Institute, decriminalization, Online Pharmacies, personal drug importation, republicans, Roger Bate
by PharmacyChecker.com | Aug 5, 2010 | Drug Importation
While the country’s drug prices rise about 12% each year (or 76.2% in the last five years), one county in New York State has found a way to keep the increases lower than the U.S. average (Schenectady County News Release).
With a total increase rate of only 8.9% since 2005, Schenectady County in eastern New York attributes success to its Canadian Drug Program, which has saved the county and its public employees more than $13.7 million in annual drug costs. The Chairwoman of Schenectady County Legislature, Susan E. Savage, recently announced that the current expansion of their Canadian Drug Program (to include two more local unions) will save $4.2 million in 2010 alone. (more…)
Tagged with: importation programs, Schenectady
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jul 9, 2010 | Drug Importation
We recently wrote on prescription assistance programs, though the focus was primarily on uninsured and underinsured seniors. This week we shift that focus to the H.I.V. and AIDS populations.
According to the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, the H.I.V. and AIDS populations are suffering more than ever when it comes to carrying the burden of prescription costs, due to our failing economy and poorly financed healthcare. H.I.V. and AIDS patients – who, on average, have annual drug bills of $12,000, are being dropped from their prescription assistance programs, told that their state’s programs are capped or closed, or placed on a seemingly endless waitlist for assistance. What’s more, as enrollment for drug assistance has increased (12% from 2008 to 2009 according to the New York Times), government funding has stayed more or less the same. (more…)
Tagged with: AIDS, AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, AIDSMeds, Drug Prices, H.I.V., international pharmacies, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, personal drug importation, prescription assistance
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Jun 24, 2010 | Drug Importation
At the beginning of the 21st century, what started out as a trickle of American seniors buying drugs in Canada in order to save money, turned into millions of Americans over the past decade buying their drugs from Canadian and other international pharmacies. At that time, the demand was largely due to the fact that Medicare did not include a drug benefit, and tens of millions of seniors had to pay entirely out-of-pocket for their prescriptions drugs. Not only has this industry helped millions of Americans afford prescription drugs and created public awareness about international drug price disparities, but it has affected U.S. healthcare policy, leading to greater health coverage. (more…)
Tagged with: Canadian pharmacies, Dorgan, Drug Prices, Healthcare Reform, international pharmacies, Medicare, Medicare Drug Plans, Online Pharmacies, policy, seniors, Snowe
