Florida plan to import cheaper drugs faces outrage in Canada
The plan to allow Florida to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada is already facing outrage from Canadians who claim it could make their own drug supply shortages worse.
The plan to allow Florida to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada is already facing outrage from Canadians who claim it could make their own drug supply shortages worse. And experts in the U.S. have doubts the program will ever help people in Florida get a cost break on medications for conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
After years of federal efforts to lower prescription drug prices, is a shaky plan to import them from Canada the best the U.S. can do?
“The U.S. needs to solve its own drug pricing problem, and not rely on other countries to do it for them,” said Dr. Joel Lexchin, a professor emeritus at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University in Toronto.
Under a new policy the Food and Drug Administration approved last week, the Florida government will be able to purchase prescription drugs in bulk directly from wholesalers in Canada, where drugs are often cheaper than in the U.S.
“It’s almost laughable that the U.S. thinks that they’re going to solve their problems about prices with Canadian drug supply, which is already stretched to the limit,” said Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, a professor emerita of medical history and medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
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