by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 29, 2020 | Drug Prices
Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov
I’m a Democrat and voting for Joe Biden. It’s good to be honest. Biden supporters may view my blog post more favorably, while Trump supporters might be more skeptical. I can live with that. You can all fact check me. But ask yourselves: “have my prescription drug costs gone down over the past four years”? If you want to respond in the comments, please do so politely. About 25% of Americans, many tens of millions of people, say they have a hard time affording their meds. As I mention below, we should all get along on this issue. It’s not only critical that we end the madness of high drug prices in America, but let’s unify when we agree!!
My quick and dirty position point here is that most of Trump’s efforts to lower drug prices have either failed and/or are simply political window dressing to help him get elected. Before my fellow Democrats turn up your noses, just know that Obama promised to take on Big Pharma, too, but he did not. For a positive spin, Trump’s bashing Big Pharma rhetoric may have future political reverberations on the Republican party in favor of real actions to lower drug prices.
(more…)Tagged with: trump
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 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
