Posted At E-Releases
BY : Senator John F. Kerry
Medicare Plan D is at the end of its first month, and its debut has been plagued with problems. Low-income seniors and people with disabilities are still having trouble getting their medications, states are footing the bill, and the collective cry to allow importation of drugs from foreign companies is getting louder and louder.
Recently, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger added his voice to the groundswell urging Congress to "take action in 2006 to allow the importation of safe, more affordable medicines." Like more than 20 other states, California is currently footing the bill for as many as one million low-income seniors who have been turned away by pharmacists or overcharged co-payments because of glitches in computer databases. "Right now, the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program is not working as intended," the Governor said in a recent release.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the federal government will not repay the states, telling them that they will have to recoup the money from the private plans. "The states are being forced to fix the government's Medicare problems, and it's costing them dearly," says Dr. Paul Zickler of DoctorSolve Healthcare Solutions (http://www.doctorsolve.com), an online pharmacy service. "If American seniors had the freedom to buy their medications from across the border, it would go a long way towards alleviating the problem. They wouldn't have to rely on an ill-fated system for their life-saving drugs, and they wouldn't be draining the resources of the American citizens."
DoctorSolve is one of many international pharmacy services hoping that the weight of Schwarzenegger will be the push needed to finally put an end to the drug imports ban. In an effort to support the Governor's argument, Zickler has extended an invitation to Schwarzenegger to tour DoctorSolve's premises. "We want him to see first-hand that we are a reputable facility with medical professionals on staff who really care about American seniors," says Zickler. "We want to explain how we personally hand select our international pharmacies based on good manufacturing practices that are equal to Canada's, and how we take extensive measures to ensure the safety of the medications we offer."
Whether or not the invitation is accepted remains to be seen, but Zickler believes that, if nothing else, the gesture is an indication to Schwarzenegger of the willingness of Canadian pharmacy services to go the distance "to ensure American seniors get the medications they need, at a price they can afford, from companies they can trust."
DoctorSolve, a Canadian Internet-based pharmacy intermediary (license #BC Q37), offers lower-cost, long-term prescriptions. A professionally registered pharmacist fills all prescriptions. A certified member of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, DoctorSolve is ranked as one of the best online pharmacies by PharmacyChecker.com. DoctorSolve has filled more than 200,000 U.S. prescriptions.
