by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jun 27, 2019 | Drug Importation
Trump supports prescription drug importation, and he’s not alone. An article by Kaiser Health News reporter Phil Galewitz headlined Trump’s support for drug importation to fight high drug prices at the state level. His article delves into the history of earlier state importation attempts, which were personal drug importation not wholesale drug importation programs. But the coolest thing I took from it was that the three states that passed prescription drug importation laws have governors across the political spectrum. None are traditional right-wing Republicans or super left Democrats. What does that look like?
In Florida, you have Governor Ron DeSantis, fashioning
himself in the mold of a Trumpist Republican.
In Vermont, you have Governor Phil Scott, who can best be
described with a phrase practically unheard of these days: Liberal
Republican.
Finally, newly elected Governor Jared Polis from Colorado is
a moderate Democrat.
While the state importation bill failed to advance in Utah, its vociferous champion in the state assembly is a very conservative Republican, Norm Thurston (Provo).
(more…)Tagged with: politics, states, trump
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Apr 12, 2019 | Drug Importation
Yesterday, the Florida House Legislature voted
93-22 passing HB 19. The bill creates programs and processes for importing
prescription drugs from Canada, as well as from other countries. HB 19 actually
calls for the creation of two programs, which I have summarized below. For a
deep dive, you should read the Staff
Analysis from the Florida House of Representatives.
Canadian
Prescription Drug Importation Program (CPDIP)
If HB 19 becomes law, the Florida Agency for Health Care
Administration (AHCA) will create processes that meet the safety protocols
called for in the bill, which include inspections and testing of drugs, to
allow registered wholesale pharmacies to import from Florida-registered
Canadian wholesalers. In this program, lower drug prices will save taxpayers
money for government funded-entities, such as county health departments, free
clinics, and the Department of Corrections.
(more…)Tagged with: Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, states
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Feb 28, 2019 | Drug Importation
Good news for New Yorkers who want freedom of choice to fill their prescriptions at pharmacies located where they are more affordable: in other countries. There is now an explicit exception to the electronic prescription (e-prescribing) law in New York that permits paper prescriptions to be filled in other countries. I’m sorry we didn’t catch this earlier, but here it is now. As of January 2017, according to the NY State Department of Health, one exception to e-prescribing, which allows a provider to write a paper prescription, is when the medicine is:
“…dispensed by a pharmacy located outside the state, outside the country, or on federal property, including and not limited to the following examples; Veterans Administration, West Point, Fort Drum, and Indian Reservations;”
When e-prescribing became mandatory in NY, people had a hard
time obtaining paper prescriptions. This was not just an inconvenience. It was
a threat to their access to affordable medicine. In our country, it’s sometimes
imperative to shop around and find the pharmacy that charges the lowest price
in our neighborhood – or in another country. This development should be very
helpful to people looking to shop around.
(more…)Tagged with: e-prescribing, New York, states
