by Lucia Mueller, President, PharmacyChecker.com | May 11, 2018 | Drug Importation
Today, President Trump will be talking about drug prices and his administration’s plan to help Americans better afford prescription drugs. By permitting importation of affordable medication, the administration has a chance to really strike a populist chord and a positive one.
It’s been said that the president is going to talk about trying to force other countries, such as Canada, to raise drug prices. Instead, why not expressly allow Americans to access those lower prices through importation? It was one of the solutions offered by Trump during his campaign.
The millions of Americans, across all parties, who already import medication to fill prescriptions will wildly applaud the administration for doing so.
Can Trump use executive authority on drug prices? Yes. Under current law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, can permit individuals to import medication for personal use right now. The Secretary can also make it lawful for companies to import FDA-approved drugs at wholesale pharmacies in Canada.
America is united against high drug prices. It seems we’re only waiting for POTUS to catch up.
Tagged with: Alex Azar, executive authority, trump
by Lucia Mueller, President, PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 1, 2018 | Drug Prices
There are not many issues you can hear both Republicans and Democrats clapping about in unison, but high drug prices is definitely one of them. Echoing his 2016 campaign, President Trump again proclaimed during his State of the Union address Tuesday night that his administration is determined “to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities.”
Speeding up the approval of lower-cost generics was noted by Trump as “exciting progress,” but nothing substantial has been done by the Trump administration on drug prices. The appointment of Alex Azar to head the Department of Health and Human Services department was a major disappointment. As president of Eli Lilly USA, Azar oversaw major price hikes on lifeline medications, such as insulin.
Appealing to both his base and popular opinion, President Trump could use his executive authority immediately to more expressly permit Americans to buy medication from international pharmacies.
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Tagged with: Alex Azar, Eli Lilly, executive authority, State of The Union, trump
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 8, 2018 | Politics and policy
Last month, I published an op-ed in The Guardian in opposition to Alex Azar for Secretary of Health and Human Services. In advance of the Senate Finance Committee Hearing tomorrow over his nomination, I’m publishing my article in its entirety below.
Recently, the president announced Alex Azar as his nominee to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, saying: “He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!” People like me – experts in drug policy and advocates for lowering drug costs for American patients – know that nothing could be farther from the truth.
On average, Americans pay twice as much for life-saving drugs as consumers in other developed countries. It doesn’t have to be this way, but unfortunately, Azar might think so.
On Wednesday, Azar appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. While he stated his commitment to lowering drug prices, he declined to support the two solutions that would have the greatest impact on patients. In fact, he and his company have vigorously opposed policies that would make healthcare more affordable for the rest of us. (more…)
Tagged with: Alex Azar, Eli Lilly, HHS, levitt op-ed, the guardian
